Shaver [extended]

• Old Five and Dimers Like Me [Monument, 1973] B
• Tramp on Your Street [Praxis International/Zoo, 1993]
• The Earth Rolls On [New West, 2001] A-
• Freedom's Child [Compadre, 2002]
• Billy and the Kid [Compadre, 2004]
• The Real Deal [Compadre, 2005] **
• Everybody's Brother [Compadre, 2007]
• Shaver's Jewels, The Best of Shaver [New West, 2013] A
• Long in the Tooth [Lightning Rod, 2014] A-

See Also:

• Billy Joe Shaver

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Billy Joe Shaver: Old Five and Dimers Like Me [Monument, 1973]
Kris Kristofferson produced this record because Billy Joe Shaver can really write songs. But they aren't so irresistible that Billy Joe can get away with singing them--not even (not even?) with Kris giving lessons. B

Tramp on Your Street [Praxis International/Zoo, 1993]

The Earth Rolls On [New West, 2001]
Always too rudimentary a singer and soft a writer to earn the unconditional love of anybody but his famous drinking buddies and the woman who married him three times, this good-hearted, weak-willed people's poet cum no-good bum hasn't given up on yon "Evergreen Fields" or that ol' "Restless Wind." But for once rank sentimentality is the exception. The thanksgiving of "Love Is So Sweet" and flipped bird of "Leavin' Amarillo" are equally combative, equally cheerful. Nor is it just the New Year's Eve OD of his guitarist son Eddy that gives "Hard Hearted Heart," "Star in My Heart," and "Blood Is Thicker Than Water" their resonance--though you do wonder whether Billy Joe saw the end coming and was doing what he could about it. A-

Billy Joe Shaver: Freedom's Child [Compadre, 2002]
"That's What She Said Last Night"

Billy Joe Shaver: Billy and the Kid [Compadre, 2004]

Billy Joe Shaver: The Real Deal [Compadre, 2005]
Another Christian truth-sayer heard from ("Live Forever," "Slim Chance and the Can't Hardly Playboys"). **

Billy Joe Shaver: Everybody's Brother [Compadre, 2007]
"Played the Game Too Long," "If You Don't Love Jesus"

Shaver's Jewels, The Best of Shaver [New West, 2013]
Saint and sinner, born again and doomed to perdition--these are old flavors in Southern vernacular music, leached by now of their savor. So give credit to this legendary outlaw-country songwriter-frontman--whose given name is Billy Joe, and whose eponymous band went belly up when his 37-year-old guitarist son Eddy Shaver OD'd New Year's Eve 2000--for slipping so easily from one to the other. This trick is greatly facilitated by Billy Joe's knack for the simple tune and an unassuming vocal affect that makes each one sound like he made it up in the shower after sleeping in his clothes. It also helps that "Son of Calvary," "You Just Can't Beat Jesus Christ," and "Live Forever" are followed by 10 earthbound numbers that culminate with "The Earth Rolls On," which could be about Eddy and could be the woman who has him bouncing down the street in "Love Is So Sweet." A

Billy Joe Shaver: Long in the Tooth [Lightning Rod, 2014]
Raving the title track as if he has no teeth at all and topping an old reprobate's catchy cannot-love plaint with an old Christian's melodic yours-for-life pledge, the 75-year-old delivers the latest old man's summum. Striving as always to keep the tunes irresistibly familiar without making a fuss about it, he also deploys his knack for strokes of wordplay you swear someone must have gotten to first, and sometimes you'll be right--"I'm playing checkers while they're playing chess" has been turning trope, although not to my knowledge followed by "They make the big moves that make me a little less." On the other hand, "Is it a lover or a liver/I really need the most?" in the breakup-qua-detox song "Last Call for Alcohol" would seem to be his. Willie delivers "The Git Go" and "Hard to Be an Outlaw" more tellingly on his new album. But Shaver owns everything here nonetheless. A-