Billy Joe Shaver
| Billy Joe Shaver | |
|---|---|
Billy Joe Shaver at Eddie's Attic - April 20, 2007
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Billy Joe Shaver |
| Born |
August 16, 1939 Corsicana, Texas,United States |
| Genres | Country music, Outlaw country, honky tonk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Acoustic guitar |
| Years active | 1973-present |
| Labels | Columbia, Monument |
| Associated acts |
Lee Clayton Jessi Colter Waylon Jennings Kris Kristofferson Willie Nelson Mickey Newbury Steve Young Johnny Cash |
| Website | www.billyjoeshaver.com |
Billy Joe Shaver (born August 16, 1939) is a Texas country music singer and songwriter. Shaver's 1973 album Old Five and Dimers Like Me is a classic in the outlaw country genre.
Shaver was born in Corsicana, Texas, and raised by his mother, Victory Watson Shaver, his father Virgil having left the family before Billy Joe was born. Until he was 12, he spent a great deal of time with his grandmother in Corsicana, Texas so that his mother could work in Waco. He sometimes accompanied his mother to her job at a local nightclub, where he began to be exposed to country music.
Shaver's mother remarried about the time that his grandmother died, so he and his older sister Patricia moved in with their mother and new stepfather. Shaver left school after the eighth grade to help his uncles pick cotton, but occasionally returned to school to play sports.
Shaver joined the U.S. Navy on his seventeenth birthday. Upon his discharge, he worked a series of dead-end jobs, including trying to be a rodeo cowboy. About this time, he met and married Brenda Joyce Tindell. They had one son, John Edwin, known as Eddy, who was born in 1962. The two divorced and remarried several times.
Shaver took a job at a lumber mill to make ends meet. One day his right hand (his dominant hand) became caught in the machinery, and he lost the better part of two fingers and contracted a serious infection. He eventually recovered, and taught himself to play the guitar without those missing fingers.
Shaver set out to hitchhike to Los Angeles, California. He could not get a ride west, and ended up accompanying a man who dropped him off just outside Memphis, Tennessee. The next ride brought him to Nashville, where he found a job as a songwriter for $50 per week. His work came to the attention of Waylon Jennings, who filled most of his album Honky Tonk Heroes with Shaver's songs. Other artists, including Elvis Presley and Kris Kristofferson, began to record Shaver's music. This led to his own record deal.
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