This is Billy Joe Shaver. He wrote “You Asked Me Too” for Elvis Presley. More recently he shot a man in Waco. (No, not to see him die, but seemingly as the culmination of a barroom argument.) This started a two year legal ordeal that ended yesterday with some Texas justice. (Thank Munz for the story.)
“Billy Joe is a not-very-well-known-outside-of-Texas country-ish singer-songwriter (whose songs have been covered by Bob Dylan, Elvis, and Waylon Jennings) whose persona is that of the extreme crusty ole outlaw who has seen pain and suffering you can't even imagine. He is accused of shooting some guy in the face in a bar called Papa Joe's near Waco. The case involves a knife being used to stir a drink, Billy Joe allegedly asking the victim "Where do want it?" (ie, the bullet about to enter his body), a suicide, a woman (of course), and flamboyantly folksy defense attorney Dick DeGuerin, whose former clients include David Kuresh, Tom DeLay, and Kay Baily Hutchinson. DeGuerin already brought people in the courtroom to tears by telling a prospective juror and Iraq veteran something about him being the reason they "are all here," by which he meant an assault-with-a-deadly-weapon trial. His legal strategy includes such statements as "put yourself in Billy Joe's boots." (Click here for more>)
And click here for the media story and verdict.
Click here for Johnny Cash. (Who else?)
The secret words are Smith and Wesson
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3 comments:
i should have just stayed awake.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP67H4qfe5w
Shaver is a great guy who somehow managed to stay just outside the big brass ring over the years, in spite of being a talent in the class of Cash, etc. His son Eddy took over Pete Anderson's chair as lead guitar for Dwight Yoakam, which only hints at how dynamic a musician he was before he od'd, at about the same time Shaver's wife and mother died. A really tough couple of years for the guy. I met him at Tramps before Eddy died--they were playing together--and he couldn't have been nicer.
I'm thinking, when you shoot a guy in the face, there can't be any mistaking the intent. Billy Joe was not fucking around. But I'm glad the guy didn't die, and I'm glad Shaver is back on the street.
Hell. I rember that Jimmy rabbitt, the D.J., turned me onto Billy Joe Shaver, back in the early '70's. When Waylon Jenning's new album, "Honky Tonk Heroes" came out, I got it & recall seeing Billy Joe's face laughing. Who WAS this guy? I found out, when I noticed that Billy Joe wrote 9 of the 10 songs on that landmark L.P. And, I found out today, again, who he is. He's still a honky tonk hero. Waylon's watchin', Billy Joe...
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