Hero: The Many Deaths of Billy Joe Shaver
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Billy Joe Shaver wasn’t just a musical legend and icon, or an “Outlaw” as we like to call the artists who work outside of the Nashville system. He was a hero, in both music, and in life. What is a hero? A hero is someone who illustrates a level of bravery well beyond what most would be willing to endure. It’s someone who stands up and charges forward when the rest of us would sit down or fall back.
The stories of Billy Joe’s heroism are numerous. One of Billy Joe Shaver’s most famous acts of bravery is when he accosted Waylon Jennings in the hall of Hillbilly Central in Nashville. This was the recording studio and hangout of country music’s “Outlaws” back in the 70’s operated by Tompall Glaser. Hillbilly Central is where Waylon Jennings and others recorded some of their most iconic albums of the era.
After Waylon Jennings spent days dodging Billy Joe Shaver and his pleas to record some of his songs, Billy Joe finally stared down Waylon in a long hallway, like two gunfighters in the middle of town. Shaver threatened, “If you don’t listen to these songs, at least listen to them, I’m going to whip your ass right here in front of God and everybody.”
Note, this was Waylon Jennings that Billy Joe was talking to—the most ornery and notorious of the Outlaws at the time. But Billy Joe Shaver’s pluck is what ultimately won Waylon’s ear, and eventually made stars out of both of them when Waylon recorded an entire album of Billy Joe Shaver’s songs. It was only fitting that the title track of that 1973 record was called “Honky Tonk Heroes.” Because that’s exactly what Billy Joe Shaver was.
When Waylon was recording the Honky Tonk Heroes album, Billy Joe Shaver wouldn’t quit butting into the sessions, complaining about what Waylon was doing with his songs. He was especially perturbed with the way Waylon put a half time breakdown at the end of the song “Honky Tonk Heroes.” Waylon gave Hillbilly Central henchman Captain Midnight a $100 bill and said, “Give this to Billy Joe, and tell him to get the f-ck out of here and stay away.” Billy Joe promptly threw the $100 bill back at Captain Midnight, and said, “You tell Waylon to stick this up his ass.”
Billy Joe Shaver’s life story unfolds more like folklore than a real life biography—losing multiple fingers in a sawmill accident, growing up in a honky tonk his mother operated with spittoons in the corner and sawdust on the floor. Eventually Billy Joe ended up in Nashville when he meant to relocate to L.A., but got tired of waiting for a trip west from Texas, and took a cantaloupe truck heading east instead.
But the legend of Billy Joe Shaver may have never made it much past 1966 without a little bit of luck, and perhaps some divine intervention. That was the first of many moments when Billy Joe Shaver probably should have cashed his check and headed for that big honky tonk in the sky. But instead he lived to tell the tale and write a song about it. This is the story of the many deaths of Billy Joe Shaver.
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In 1966, Billy Joe Shaver had just remarried his wife Brenda and was living outside of Nashville. Billy Joe and Brenda would marry, divorce, and re-marry many times throughout their lives. They were dirt poor as Shaver tried to ply his craft as a songwriter, and was generally unsuccessful. Not exactly smart with his money, Shaver saw an old truck for sale parked across the street from their house, and on a whim, decided to buy it.
After and busting his knuckles trying to get that ragged old truck to turn over unsuccessfully, wife Brenda jumped on Billy Joe’s case, and decided to leave him once again. Dejected, broke, and alone, Shaver determined right then and there that Brenda was right. He was worthless, and decided to end his own life.
“Don’t ever play Russian roulette with an automatic,” Shaver later said about the moment. He put the automatic pistol up to his head, and pulled the trigger. But whether it was his better judgement, bad aim, or divine intervention, the gun slid just over the crown of Billy’s head as the first bullet was shot, and then he emptied the magazine into the wall just over his shoulder.
As Billy Joe Shaver sings in his song “Ragged Old Truck” about the incident, “But I come to myself just before I got killed, I blowed me some holes in the wall.”
As the story and the song continue, a dead broke Billy Joe heads to Nashville where he busks on the street to earn a few bucks, eventually filling up his hat with spare change. Still figuring it’s over for him, he takes the money he earns and buys a bunch of LSD and has a bad trip. To try and get his head right, he buys a six pack of beer, thinking he could better handle being drunk as opposed to whatever the acid was doing to him.
Shaver decided that if he was going to die, he was going to die raising hell “before he had to live it all down.” He loses track of time as days pass by, and he’s in a drunken haze of girls and booze. But he doesn’t die. Instead, he eventually makes it back home, takes a shower, and sits down to write the song “Ragged Old Truck” that recounts the entire episode.
Then when his wife Brenda comes in, Billy raves about the new song he’d just penned, and wants to sing it for her. With Brenda already less than enamored with Shaver at the moment, when he sings the verse, “It’s my life and no wife of mine’s gonna tell me, I can’t go and have me some fun…” Brenda proceeds to grab her purse—which according to Shaver had something very hard and very heavy in it—and smacks Shaver right across the head, knocking him out cold on the floor, perhaps putting his life in peril once again.
Shaver came to eventually, and would go on to record “Ragged Old Truck,” re-recording it multiple times in his career, and performing it as a staple of his live shows. Billy Joe Shaver lived to tell the tale.
The second episode where Billy Joe Shaver almost died and probably should have was in 2001 at at the historic Gruene Hall in Texas. Just as Nashville has the “Mother Church of Country Music,” a.k.a. the Ryman Auditorium, and Tulsa has “The Home of Bob Wills,” Cain’s Ballroom, Gruene Hall is the centerpiece of country music in the picturesque Texas Hill Country. Taking a trip to Gruene is like taking a trip back in time. Simply entering the town immediately results in a positive mood swing, and a laid back feeling. Stepping foot into Gruene Hall is to walk on the same floor as many of the titans of country music.
Gruene Hall was one of the places George Strait got his start in music. Jerry Jeff Walker and other legends of Texas country played there on a regular basis, with many others performing there while touring through. When Willie Nelson sold out a benefit at Gruene Hall in 1998, they had to build a secret entrance called the “Willie Door” where performers could scamper in and out when the crowd reached capacity since Gruene Hall has no back door, or green room.
This is also where Billy Joe Shaver had a heart attack right there on stage on August 25th, 2001, and lived to tell about it. He thought it was the end, and in some ways, wanted it to be. It came at a dark time in Shaver’s life, where both his mother and wife Brenda had passed away in 1999, and then his son and guitar player Eddy Shaver died of a drug overdose on New Year’s Eve, 2000.
It was a steamy night at the legendary dance hall, and at first Shaver though his chest was just congested due to the dance hall’s poor ventilation. When he figured out what was happening, he embraced the moment.
Shaver recalls, “I said, ‘Thank you, Lord, for letting me die in the oldest honky-tonk in Texas.’ I wanted to die. All this had happened, and I was going home to see Eddy, Brenda, and my mother.”
But Billy Joe Shaver survived, and reportedly didn’t even seek medical treatment for four days afterwards. Talk about one tough knot of hickory. Finally when he made it to the hospital, they performed angioplasty to keep him alive, but doctors said he needed a quadruple bypass or his heart could give out at any moment. Meanwhile Shaver had a three-week tour of Australia booked with Kinky Friedman coming up.
At first, Shaver called up Kinky and said he was out, citing the heart attack and the necessary surgery. Kinky reportedly said, “So what? You’re going to ruin my career.” Then apparently Willie Nelson intervened, telling Shaver that getting away from all his troubles and catching some fresh air would be best. Shaver ultimately agreed.
Kinky Friedman explains, “The doctors wanted him to have the surgery, but he said no. And they didn’t want him going to Australia with Kinky. That it was the wrong thing to do. But Billy Joe was in a dark place; the recent family tragedies, the health concerns. Staying home with the curtains drawn and all its temptations seemed as risky as going. Willie and I both agreed, the best therapy he could have was to get out and have a good time.”
And so bad ticker and all, off Billy Joe Shaver went on the tour with Kinky Friedman, and it turned out to be successful. Two days after arriving back in the United States, Billy Joe had his quadruple bypass. Once again, he lived to tell the tale.
Another moment when Billy Joe Shaver’s life was in peril is probably the best-known story about Billy Joe. We’re of course talking about the time on April 2nd, 2007 when Shaver shot Billy Bryant Coker in the face at Papa Joe’s bar just south of Waco, Texas. The moment became legendary through the song “Where Do You Want It,” written by Dale Watson, and first recorded by 2nd generation Outlaw singer Whitey Morgan and his band The 78’s in 2010.
The story that most people know claims that after getting into some sort of altercation at Papa Joe’s with Billy Coker, Shaver produced a .22 pistol from his boot and asked Coker “Where do you want it?” before shooting him in the cheek. The injury was not life-threatening, but Shaver was eventually arrested on charges of aggravated assault and possessing a firearm in a prohibited place. For the record, during Shaver’s trial that included Willie Nelson and Robert Duvall as character witnesses, Shaver testified that what he actually said was, “Why do you want to do this?”
As Whitey Morgan sometimes points out before performing the song, though it might be badass to think of Billy Joe Shaver asking, “Where do you want it?,” it’s hard to see that actually happening, since in the face is where Billy Bryant Coker got it.
But the part of the story that tends to be left out is just the kind of threat Billy Joe Shaver faced. That is why he produced the pistol, shot Coker in the cheek, and was able to convince a jury of his peers that he’d acted in self-defense. Just before the shooting, Billy Coker had come up to Shaver at Papa Joe’s with a knife, and started threatening him, including stirring Shaver’s drink with the knife.
Instead of confronting Billy Coker in Papa Joe’s, Shaver left the bar, not wanting to cause trouble. But Billy Coker followed Shaver out into the parking lot, bullying him the whole time. Shaver’s testimony and eyewitness reports that he was trying to get away from Coker is one of the reasons they let him off the hook. After Shaver shot Coker, Coker said, “I’m sorry,” with Shaver responding, “Well, if you had said that inside, there would have been no problem.”
Was Shaver’s life in danger? The jury sure thought so, and on April 9th, 2010, Billy Joe was acquitted of the aggravated assault charges. Not only had Billy Joe skirted death once again, he’s avoided criminal prosecution for a case where he’d shot a man in the face.
There was yet another incident in 2017, and perhaps it would be a bit of hyperbole to claim that Billy Joe Shaver cheated death once again. But at 78-years-old and continuing to suffer from heart problems, he most certain could have died, and not only didn’t, Shaver illustrated his incredible toughness, and certainly got a few new scars to brag about.
Shaver was scheduled to headline the Long Beach Folk Revival Festival on Saturday, September 17th when he ended up in the hospital after falling as he walked into a nearby restaurant, smashing his face on the ground. Apparently Shaver stepped into a hole, which caused the country legend’s knee to buckle sideways. The incident happened about 3:30 in the afternoon.
Shaver’s forehead was split open and his nose was broken according to guitarist and road manager for Shaver, Jeremy Woodall, so they took Shaver to the hospital, with the festival being the last thing on their mind. Shaver had been hospitalized multiple times leading up to the incident, including as recently as April of that year for his heart issues.
Yet the show must go on, even for a beaten and bloodied up Billy Joe Shaver. After getting stitches and medical care, Billy Joe and his band were en route to the Rainbow Lagoon Park in Long Beach. Shaver was swollen, bruised, and sore, and blood was still on his signature denim shirt that he always wore. But Shaver soldiered through nonetheless. According to one festival worker, Shaver was still on an IV when he first showed up on the festival site.
“Dude’s about as tough as I’ve seen,” guitarist Jeremy Woodall said at the time.
Yet despite Billy Joe Shaver coming across as immortal, bulletproof, and unstoppable, he died on Wednesday, October 28th, 2020 after suffering a massive stroke the previous morning. Billy Joe was currently in a rehabilitation facility after undergoing hip replacement surgery when the stroke occurred. They placed Shaver on life support, but he did not make it. He was 81 years old.
Born in Corsicana, Texas, Billy Joe Shaver was raised by his mother after his father left before he was born. Shaver was looked after primarily by his grandmother until he was 12 when he would regularly accompany his mother at the nightclub she worked at. Despite the inference in his song “I’ve Been To Georgia On A Fast Train,” Billy Joe Shaver actually attended school beyond the 8th grade, specifically LaVega High School in Bellmead, and wrote for the high school’s literary annual, The Pirate’s Jewels.
For a while Shaver’s mom ran a Waco honky tonk called Green Gables. Billy Joe would run around the place bumming nickels from soldiers from nearby Fort Hood, and by the time he got a little older was known as quite a dancer and ladies man. His whole Green Gables childhood experience was later recapped in the song “Honky Tonk Heroes.”
Shaver worked a number of odd jobs, including in the rodeo, and he enlisted in the Navy on his 17th birthday. Shortly after he started working in a sawmill, he lost two of his fingers in an accident. It was then that he decided to teach himself guitar, and aspired to become a songwriter. But it was a random chance that led him to Nashville. First planning to hitchhike to L.A., he instead ended up in Memphis, and eventually Nashville, where he signed on as a songwriter, making $50 a week.
Shaver landed cuts for Bobby Bare and others in his early days in Nashville, but getting his songs recorded by Waylon Jennings was Shaver’s big break. Waylon first heard Shaver singing the song “Willy The Wandering Gypsy and Me” at Willie Nelson’s Dripping Springs Reunion in 1972, and Waylon said that he wanted to learn the song and record it. This is what led to Billy Joe chasing Waylon all around Nashville before Waylon finally decided to record a whole album of Billy Joe Shaver songs, Honky Tonk Heroes. For many, this was the true beginning of country music’s Outlaw era.
But Billy Joe Shaver wasn’t just an “Outlaw.” He was a hero.
Billy Joe Shaver’s acts of heroism were not exactly saving a baby from a burning building. But this isn’t Hollywood, this is country music. And there were many admirable acts from Billy Joe Shaver that didn’t involve bluster and violence. Billy Joe was a hero for being one of those artists who waits by the merch table after every show to meet all his fans, giving a big bear hug and photo op to anyone who wanted one. He was a hero in the way he was so outspoken about the overdose death of his son and stellar guitar player Eddy Shaver.
Many people considered Billy Joe Shaver a “hero,” including his long-time friend Willie Nelson. While most of the music industry had forgotten or abandoned Billy Joe Shaver just like so many legends of the past, Willie Nelson did his level best to make sure the world remembered. Willie regularly featured Billy Joe Shaver music on his albums, and collaborated with Shaver often.
Billy Joe Shaver and Willie Nelson recorded the song “Wacko From Waco” about Billy Joe’s incident at Papa Joe’s in Waco as a duet in 2011. Willie Nelson appeared on the song “Hard To Be an Outlaw” off of Billy Joe Shaver’s 2014 album, Long in the Tooth. Willie Nelson’s 2020 album First Rose of Spring included the Billy Joe Shaver-written song, “We Are The Cowboys.”
But it’s Willie Nelson’s song “Hero” off his 2012 record called Heroes where Willie paid tribute to Billy Joe Shaver directly. Featuring an appearance from Jamey Johnson and Billy Joe Shaver himself, the song laments the loss of honky tonk heroes over time, with Shaver as the centerpiece. The song asks,
Where is our hero today?
Can we just tag along, we’ll stay out his way.
Does he still write the sad songs and can he still play
Where is our hero today?
Unfortunately, our hero is gone now, just like so many of them that made country music the proud institution it is today. But thanks to Billy Joe Shaver’s music, he won’t be forgotten. Like he says in one of his signature songs,
Nobody here will ever find me
But I will always be around
Just like the songs I leave behind me
I’m gonna live forever now.
Sources:
Honky Tonk Hero – Billy Joe Shaver – University of Texas Press
The Washington Post – “Billy Joe Shaver Invented Country Music” – May 2017
Texas Monthly – “The Ballad of Billy Joe Shaver” – December 2003
Saving Country Music – “Billy Joe Shaver Survives Heart Attack on Stage” – August 2021
KWTX – “Billy Joe Shaver doesn’t miss a beat after bad fall” – September 2017
November 7, 2024 @ 9:19 am
It was. During the Australia tour. In 2002 that Waylon. Died
November 7, 2024 @ 9:27 am
The only time I saw BJS was at Shank Hall in Milwaukee in August of 2016. (For $10 in front of about 60 people!) It was after two previous dates were canceled. It was definitely worth the wait. He showed up alone as he had equipment problems or other issues and played solo and told stories for 30 minutes before the band showed up with instruments.
Happy I got to see the legend before it was too late.
November 8, 2024 @ 2:03 pm
I saw him in ’94 on Long Island. He opened for Sammy Kershaw. He kept fiddling with his watch on stage in between songs and even asked if someone had the time. We had a good laugh.
At the end, he addressed the crowd, “I was walking around this afternoon. What are y’all in such a rush for?”.
I remember meeting Eddy after the opening set and before Sammy took the stage and I got to shake his hand. He seemed shy but was friendly and appreciative of the kind words.
November 7, 2024 @ 9:29 am
Billy Joe Shaver was the best songwriter in the world, and I’ll stand on Waylon Jennings’ coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.
November 7, 2024 @ 10:56 am
Preach, Mr. Earle!
November 7, 2024 @ 10:25 am
I used to work with a school psychologist who had graduated Baylor. She didn’t seem very country, but when I called her a “Waco from Waco” she got the reference. Fortunately, I was able to resist the urge to ask the where do you want it question. It doesn’t take much to amuse me.
November 7, 2024 @ 10:28 am
I miss Billy Joe Shaver. I love “Freedom’s Child” which parallels some of the above by working with musicians and not sitting at home.
Side note. Has anyone read Courtney Lennon’s book on his songwriting? I keep meaning to order it.
November 7, 2024 @ 7:21 pm
One weekday night in Baton Rouge he drove up in his raggedy bus to put on a memorial show in his trademark Wrangler pearl snap blue chambray shirt and jeans along with the bull ring belt he wore daily. Performing with his Crack band to a packed house..He was as soulful as Otis Redding and had the aura of greatness yet remaining friendly and humble..His records are timeless and full of the wonder of simplicity that’s so very hard to acheive..Thank you for this super tribute to a most worthy hero.
November 7, 2024 @ 12:02 pm
I saw him play one of Willies 4th of July events towards the end of his life. Was 108 in the shade that day. He played a stage that was in full sun, his long denim shirt, pants and hat and never took a single sip of water. I was struggling with the heat watching him and half his age. Will never forget how tough I realized he was for that alone.
November 7, 2024 @ 2:45 pm
Great piece on Billy Joe Shaver, Trigger!. I was introduced to the legend through George Strait’s rendition of: “Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me” and read up about the trial of ‘where do you want it’ true story of Billy Joe Shaver shooting Coker in the face. That was when the West was really wild—-and not very long ago!. One of the main reasons I keep visiting your site Trigger, to warn you about legends like: Willie Nelson and George Strait; they belong in a class of their own. Fans like me “know” them through their music and autobiography. Roughing their feathers is a very bad idea if they decide to do something about it. No need to start stuff you can’t finish.
November 7, 2024 @ 5:37 pm
Billy Joe Shaver was what they talk about when they talk about “the real deal.”
November 7, 2024 @ 5:46 pm
To me, “Live Forever” is one of the best songs ever written. Billy Joe could write songs like no one else.
November 7, 2024 @ 11:10 pm
When Billy Joe Shaver finally broke out as a performing artist, in his own right in with the “Tramp On Your Street” CD with Eddy.in 1993 (and continued making recordings for another 20 years), it made Waylon’s Honky-Tonk Heroes album less “essential, ” in my view. I think Shaver himself did the definitive versions of his own songs.
But I do like some covers of Shaver’s songs by other artists. My three favorites: The Highwaymen doing “I’m Gonna Live Forever” on their final studio album. Something about the foursome doing it just really worked; Marty Stuart’s version of “If I Give My Soul” on his “Love and Luck” disc from 1994; and Patty Loveless doing “When Fallen Angels Fly,” also in 1994.
Whenever I hear that one, I think: This would be perfect if Billy Joe himself would show up in the final verse to blend his rough voice with Patty’s ethereal vocal–but he doesn’t. I was sure that “When Fallen Angels Fly,” was a top-5 song for Patty. But I just looked it up and although it was the title song of what turned out to be a platinum selling CD–which also won the CMA award for Album of the Year, the song itself was not released as a single.
November 8, 2024 @ 4:29 am
Never been to Georgia on a fast train but i have been thru Atlanta on a Greyhound bus…good times man
November 8, 2024 @ 5:43 am
Top 2 forever for me along with Kristofferson. I just love how so many folks would never take them for being two of the most poetic and intelligent songwriters in history with Kris pausing three times in a sentence to find the perfect word and Billy Joe’s accent.
November 8, 2024 @ 5:09 pm
Great article. Billy Joe was a hero of mine. Only got to see him one time back in 2016, I saw him at Riley’s Tavern down in Texas. After the show I bought his autobiography and he signed it “Bless You Taylor, Your Friend Billy Joe.” It remains my most prized possession. As stated I met him once but felt like he has been a friend my entire life. They certainly don’t make men like him anymore. God broke the mold when he created Billy Joe.
November 10, 2024 @ 9:02 am
Super article. A larger than life character and a great songwriter.
November 11, 2024 @ 9:38 am
More of this please.