Remembering Billy Joe Shaver

Imagine you’ve been writing songs for almost 20 years and you’re at the end of your rope, ready to throw in the towel, when you get a message on your phone that says “trim this and I’ll record it on my next album” and then Billy Joe Shaver is singing a song he started and wants you to finish it. validation of 20 years, and equal to winning a Grammy.

Over the years, we would talk many times, swapping stories of our bar-room brawls and close calls, always hanging up the phone laughing. Just before midnight, Friday night (October 27, 2020), Billy called from the hospital to say, “when I get out, I’m going to push your songs and help you”.

It all started when I had gone to one of Billy’s concerts when he came to Nashville with a friend of mine, who was also a friend of Billy’s. He was going to introduce us, but Billy wasn’t feeling good after the show and didn’t see anyone. I bought his autobiography at the show that night.

Billy was a big boxing fan and wrote in his autobiography how much he admired heavyweight contender, Earnie Shavers. Just by chance, prior to becoming a songwriter, I was a prize-fighter and was in the ring with Earnie in 1983. I was able to put Billy and Earnie on the phone together for, what Billy called, “a great conversation.”

At the next concert, the crowd was so packed, that Billy Joe actually tapped me on the shoulder so that he could pass to go backstage. I was prepared for just such a moment and put a note in his pocket and told him that it was the phone number for Earnie Shavers. Billy Joe called him and then called me and that started our friendship.

Billy and I would swap phone calls and text messages, talking about boxing and songwriting. Before I met him at the Factory, he suggested we write a song together about a boxer. This is when I slipped pass security and confronted Billy back stage somewhat of how he did Waylon.

Pictured is my son’s guitar, the one I used convincing security I was in Billy Joe Shaver’s band to get back stage when he was performing at The Factory, in Franklin, TN, for Music City Roots. I walked up to Billy and put 3 songs in his shirt pocket and said “you promised to write a song with me and I’m going to hold you to it”. It took 2 years, but Billy Joe Shaver finally called.

Billy would later tell me the story behind the song. He said “I had a fight with the devil last night and didn’t think I was going to make it, but I did. I asked Jesus to get me through this just one more time.” The next morning, when Billy woke up, he sat on the foot of his bed and started writing the song, entitled “Fight with the Devil”.

Billy wanted to use a boxing analogy for the song, of fighting the devil and winning, so he sang me a verse and a chorus in a phone message in 2018. I worked on my part of the song, mixing my lyrics with his, and sent him an email with the possible song. He wrote back:

“GREAT, LETS SPLIT IT. IF THATS ALRIGHT WITH YOU GOD BLESS YOU AND FAMILY”

Billy always ended his calls saying, “I love you, brother.”

I want people to know the Billy Joe Shaver off stage, always pulling for the little guy and the unknown songwriter like me. “Just be yourself in life and in your lyrics”, he would say.

Byline: Ken Boutwell (www.kenboutwell.com)

Billy Joe Shaver, the outlaw-country music pioneer who wrote some of the genre’s greatest songs, died Wednesday in Waco, Texas, after suffering a stroke. He was 81. Connie Nelson, a friend of Shaver’s, confirmed his death to Rolling Stone.

“Billy Joe Shaver is among the greatest troubadours in American music history,” said Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “He spoke in poetry, and he lived his life like he wrote his songs, with poignant hilarity, chuckling sadness, and the wisdom of a dust-bitten sage. Most every line he wrote rings with truth and beauty, but the one I’m thinking of today is, ‘You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.’”

“October 28th, I lost one of my greatest songwriting friends, Billy Joe Shaver. It’s a sad day and I’m just so torn between raising hell and lowering heaven a little bit. I felt it all the way from Nashville to Waco when he passed. I just go from looking back on our wonderful memories together to tears, then back to memories again. I have a lot to say about Billy Joe Shaver. He’s written so many songs, and I’m so glad I got to write a few of them with him. The whole songwriting community has suffered a huge loss today and most importantly the fans of country music. Billy was one of a kind, he wasn’t like anyone else. When he loved, he loved hard and I loved him right back. I just can’t find the words right now. Billy, he never had any trouble finding the right words when it came to a song, he was a master. Billy’s on his way to heaven and I’m just so glad I got to spend some of his life and some of my life together. I miss you already, my friend. Adios.” – Tanya Tucker

Shaver’s debut album, Old Five and Dimers Like Me (1973), contained many songs noted for being performed by other artists such as David Allan Coe and Waylon Jennings. When I Get My Wings (1976) included “Ain’t No God In Mexico” (also a hit for Waylon Jennings). Gypsy Boy (1977) included “Honky Tonk Heroes” and “You Asked Me To”. Shaver also wrote numerous songs for artists such as Patty Loveless and Willie Nelson.

He approved my lyrics, and liked what I added, but his declining health kept us from getting into a studio to cut it. For me, as a songwriter, that was In 2019, Shaver received the Poet’s Award from the Academy of Country Music to honor his achievements in songwriting.