Post by Garland on Apr 8, 2022 19:00:25 GMT -5
excerpt: I guess it shouldn’t seem strange that when our country heroes leave us, it hurts like we lost a close friend or family member, even if we never knew our favorite performers personally, and would be lucky to even have met them once or twice. But still, we spend so much time with them during our lives, even sometimes more than our real friends and family. They are there for us during our most trying and troubling times. And though others may let us down, their music never does. Well, at least not their good stuff. It transcends their mortal time on Earth, and endures eternally.
Billy Joe Shaver could be a hero to someone even if they didn’t give a fig about country music. Getting his fingers lopped off in a sawmill when he was young, dodging bullets in his own suicide attempt, threatening to kick Waylon’s ass in front of God and everybody before Waylon saw the light and recorded a whole album of his songs (Honky Tonk Heroes), surviving a heart attack on stage at Gruene Hall, and so on and so forth, let alone arguably being the greatest Outlaw country songwriter of all time, Billy Joe Shaver was definitely a hero, and was coined so by his peers.
But eventually, and somewhat inexplicably, Billy Joe Shaver did die, on October 28th 2020. Turns out, only his songs were immortal. But you can still see him at the Waco Memorial Park just south of Waco, Texas, and just north of the infamous Papa Joe’s bar where Billy Joe Shaver once shot a man in the face after allegedly asking him “Where do you want it?” But don’t worry, he beat the rap with a legitimate claim of self-defense and a character witness in Willie Nelson. Only in Texas, and only Billy Joe Shaver could pull something like that off. That was the reason he was affectionately referred to as the Wacko from Waco, and why we all loved him.
Billy Joe Shaver could be a hero to someone even if they didn’t give a fig about country music. Getting his fingers lopped off in a sawmill when he was young, dodging bullets in his own suicide attempt, threatening to kick Waylon’s ass in front of God and everybody before Waylon saw the light and recorded a whole album of his songs (Honky Tonk Heroes), surviving a heart attack on stage at Gruene Hall, and so on and so forth, let alone arguably being the greatest Outlaw country songwriter of all time, Billy Joe Shaver was definitely a hero, and was coined so by his peers.
But eventually, and somewhat inexplicably, Billy Joe Shaver did die, on October 28th 2020. Turns out, only his songs were immortal. But you can still see him at the Waco Memorial Park just south of Waco, Texas, and just north of the infamous Papa Joe’s bar where Billy Joe Shaver once shot a man in the face after allegedly asking him “Where do you want it?” But don’t worry, he beat the rap with a legitimate claim of self-defense and a character witness in Willie Nelson. Only in Texas, and only Billy Joe Shaver could pull something like that off. That was the reason he was affectionately referred to as the Wacko from Waco, and why we all loved him.