Born dirt-poor in Corsicana in 1939, Billy Joe Shaver witnessed a Hank Williams concert in the late 1940s, and although he would take a few detours along the way, he sensed early on that his salvation would lie in country music. Following an ill-advised stint in the Navy (he was honorably discharged after fighting with an out-of-uniform officer), a sawmill accident claimed most of the fingers on his right hand and Shaver's days of manual labor were over. He then learned how to play guitar.

Shaver's never been a stranger to hard knocks, but the past few years have been brutal. Following the loss of his wife and his mother less than a month apart to cancer, he - with the aid of his guitarist son Eddy - wrote and recorded the acclaimed The Earth Rolls On. But before the CD hit the shelves, Eddy succumbed to his long battle with drugs, fatally overdosing early in the morning of December 31, 2000.

Through the first half of 2001, an ailing, hard-traveling Shaver contended with (and ignored) heart and health problems, the neglect of which culminated in a heart attack on-stage at a July 4th show at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas. He eventually underwent quadruple bypass surgery.

"I guess I should have gone then," he says on his website, "but there's obviously some reason why I'm still here."

Blessed with rejuvenated health and a renewed sense of purpose, Shaver has since joined Houston-based Compadre Records. He is revered more now than perhaps ever in his career.

Information from the artist's site

Musicians

• Billy Joe Shaver: guitar, lead vocals, vocals

Albums

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