The Drop: Billy Joe Shaver
55m
On August 7, 2014, acclaimed Texas outlaw songwriter Billy Joe Shaver visited the GRAMMY Museum to celebrate his new album, Long in the Tooth, which had been released just two days prior. His first studio album in six years, Long in the Tooth narrates Shaver’s storied career, featuring his trademark truths in “Last Call for Alcohol” and “The Git Go.” Shaver’s four decade-spanning career launched into the public eye with Honky Tonk Heroes. Waylon Jennings’ landmark album presented Shaver-written classics at nearly every measure with “Old Five and Dimers Like Me,” “Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me,” “Ride Me Down Easy,” and title track and Top 10 hit “You Asked Me To.” By writing and co-writing 10 out of the album’s 11 songs, Shaver distinguished himself as a songwriter, his work resonating with people across the board. In 1993, Shaver broke through, accumulating greater audiences as the booming Americana and Texas roots music and singer-songwriter scenes were gathering steam with the acclaimed Tramp on Your Street, united with guitar-playing son Eddy. Shaver released numerous additional independent albums after that and was honored with the first Americana Music Award for Lifetime Achievement in Songwriting in 2002, and inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004.