The late Billy Joe Shaver left his local fans with some wonderful memories
The late Billy Joe Shaver left his local fans with some wonderful memories
By Fran Thompson
Dean Dillon and Billy Joe Shaver have both played the Frank Brown Songwriters Fest multiple times, and there was a good chance Shaver would have joined his fellow CMA Writers Hall of Famer, who plays at the Flora-Bama on Nov. 15, at this year’s gathering.
Festival founder Joe Gilchrist is a good friend of both and was working out the logistics of getting Shaver here from Texas when the Texas troubadour passed away at age 81 on Oct. 28.
I saw Shaver (with his son Eddy playing incredible guitar licks next to him) and The Mavericks back-to-back early in the day at my first City Stages. I could have left then and been satisfied. That was the same City Stages that the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the closing act, adlibbed the chorus of their finale: “There’s a better world awaiting … Down at the Flora-Bama.’’ The band gave a shout out to what was then my neighborhood bar in front of 35,000 people. What a day.
I met Shaver, who Willie Nelson called the greatest living songwriter in 2010, briefly through our mutual friend Gilchrist after one of his shows at the ‘Bama. I went to LuLu’s for another set the next night and spoke with him again. He somehow remembered my name.
Turns out, my co-worker John Mullen and local musician Jason Justice have similar memories of Shaver.
After seeing the man Mullen said is one of his top five ever artists performing at LuLu’s, Mullen went over to say hello.
“That’s the night I said, ‘Billy, we’ve met many times over the years, but you meet lots of people. So you probably don’t remember me.’ He said, ‘how could I forget an ugly son of a gun like you?’ But he used a different word.’’
Mullen said that conversation gave new meaning to Shaver’s lyric from the song Tramp On Your Street: “His body was worn but his spirit was free, and he sang every song looking right straight at me.”
Justice, who has established a well deserved following during his 25 years of lugging amplifiers around Pleasure Island and Perdido Key, said Donna Slater, knowing he was a big fan, booked him to open for Shaver at the Flora-Bama.
“This turned out to be the most memorable night of my music career,’’ Justice wrote on his facebook page. “I don’t remember most of my set, but that doesn’t matter. I just didn’t want to disappoint. I’ve opened for big acts and normally you won’t see them. Mr. Shaver sat through my whole set. Of course, he did, that’s the kind of person he was. I actually felt like he cared about what we were doing.’’
Justice said Shaver invited him to play harmonica with him and his band and then asked him to finish the set, as he was feeling ill. No problem. Justice knew the Shaver songs by heart.
“Fast forward four years to a show in Luckenbach. Mr. Shaver is standing back stage,’’ Justice wrote. “I walk up and he remembered me by name. Unbelievable.’’
Pictured: Billy Joe Shaver on stage with Jason Justice, hanging with John Mullen & at the ‘Bama with local musicians Lea Anne Creswell & John Joiner.