In a world where Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Waylon Jennings loom large, artists like
Billy Joe Shaver get a bit overshadowed. Despite having released 17 studio albums plus numerous live and compilation projects, Billy Joe Shaver is looked on more as a songwriter than a solo artist, at least through the country music world view that I grew up in. The Corsicana, Texas native penned songs that legends would go on to cut, including "Hard to be an Outlaw" for Willie Nelson , "Honky Tonk Heroes" for Waylon Jennings, and "Georgia On A Fast Train" for Johnny Cash (and others). Maybe one day I'll go through he backstory and we can talk about how he wound up becoming who he was, but for today I want to look back at a crazy real life story that wound up becoming one of his most iconic tracks. In 2007, Shaver and his then wife Wanda were going through some hard times, in fact they were in the process of getting a divorce, but they still decided to drop in at a small town bar called Papa Joes somewhere near the border of South Carolina and Georgia. They had been out taking pictures for his soon to be released album. Well, it wasn't one of those quiet and homey bars but a real rough and tumble place and soon they found themselves in a very strange, and dangerous, situation. Shaver is known to tell the story on stage and here's what he said at a concert years back at John T. Floore's Country Store in Helotes, Texas:
"We run across this place called Papa Joes and it's a beer joint and I've been in there and it's a scary ass place. I mean the door actually looked like something to enter solitary confinement... we're getting our last divorce as a matter of fact. It hadn't got there yet, we're still married but we're waiting on the divorce..." He goes on to say that Wanda went to go play Texas Hold 'Em and he was sitting with half a beer in front of him when a guy walks in who was "built like a fire hydrant," carrying a bottle of whiskey. The guy proceeded to walk around pouring the whiskey in everyone's drinks, something Shaver didn't really like but he let it go to try and avoid any trouble. But the man had other plans... he pulled out a pocket knife and began stirring Shaver's drink with it and began talking up his soon to be ex-wife, which caused Shaver to make some comments and the two got in a bit of an argument. Things cooled down for a second when Shaver briefly walked away but he just wasn't able to let it go and he approached the man again.
"I said 'Hey mister, if you just apologize everything will be alright.' Of course then he really unloaded on me cause he was a Texican too, about half my age... so we take it outside. We're heading for the back door, which had been kicked down already, and I went around him because I'd been in a few fights before and I wanted to get outside first cause I don't like coming out in the dark and somebody hitting me in the head with something... so I got out there and I'm waiting for him and he didn't come out... I looked out there and I seen him coming across the dancefloor and old boy that was the leader of the band walks out to him and hands him a gun... I remembered I had a little bitty popper in the old lady's car, a little .22 Derringer. I just leisurely went over there and stuck it in my pocket just in case... All of a sudden out he comes, pow pow pow pow. He runs from about here to there shooting at me. And I just say, "You know what, it's time to return fire. So I come out with that gun, pop. Hit him right between the mother and the f-ker..." As you'd imagine, he and his wife got out of there as quickly as they could. Law enforcement did wind up getting involved but Billy Joe Shaver was found not guilty of aggravated assault in 2010 when a McLennan County jury ruled he acted in self defense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO94J_vjBFc If you know anything about songwriters than you know they never let a good story go to waste and Shaver is no different. He, along with Willie Nelson, wrote "Wacko From Waco" about the incident and it went on to become one of Shaver's most recognizable songs.
I'm a wacko from Waco, ain't no doubt about it Shot a man there in the head but can't talk much about it He was trying to shoot me, but he took too long to aim Anybody in my place, would have done the same I don't start fights, I finish fights, that's the way I'll always be I'm a wacko from Waco, you best not mess with me If this story tells us anything, it's that Billy Joe Shaver truly lived up to the Outlaw title he was given. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLe5b6sIkGU
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