Billy Joe Shaver Tribute Album
LIVE FOREVER: A TRIBUTE TO BILLY JOE SHAVER
FEATURING WILLIE NELSON & LUCINDA WILLIAMS, GEORGE STRAIT, MIRANDA LAMBERT, NATHANIEL RATELIFF, STEVE EARLE, MARGO PRICE, RYAN BINGHAM & NIKKI LANE AND MORE
Out November 11, 2022
New West Records and Pedernales Records have announced Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver to be released November 11, 2022. The twelve-song set was co-produced by Charlie Sexton and Freddy Fletcher and features renditions of Shaver songs recorded by a host of wonderful artists – Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Nathaniel Rateliff, Ryan Bingham and Nikki Lane, Steve Earle, Edie Brickell, Rodney Crowell, Margo Price, Allison Russell and Amanda Shires.
The Texas singer-songwriter, who died on October 28th, 2020, was an integral member of the Outlaw Country movement.
“my favorite songwriter”
Johnny Cash
“Billy Joe is definitely the best writer in Texas”
Willie Nelson
The album’s opener has just been released, Nelson and Williams’s rendition of Shaver’s signature tune “Live Forever”:
“when you write songs, and you write good songs, people will always remember you. Words will always outlive us. And if your name is attached to those words, you’re gonna live forever”
Billy Joe Shaver
The tribute album’s release follows a book about Shaver’s life and music. READ ABOUT THAT HERE.
About Billy Joe Shaver: In 1965, Billy Joe Shaver hitchhiked to Nashville and convinced the country singer Bobby Bare to listen to his songs. Bare quickly signed Shaver to a $50 a week job as a songwriter and recorded his song “Ride Me Down Easy.” Kris Kristofferson’s rendition of “Good Christian Soldier” and Tom T. Hall’s recording of “Willie the Wandering Gypsy and Me” soon followed. Shaver’s breakout moment came in 1973 when Waylon Jennings’ landmark album Honky Tonk Heroes was released. Hailed as the first “Outlaw Country” record, ten of its eleven songs were written or co-written by Shaver. One of which, “You Asked Me To,” was a top 10 hit for Jennings and was later recorded by Elvis Presley. Shaver’s legendary debut album Old Five and Dimers Like Me was produced by Kristofferson and issued in 1973 as well.
He went on to release more than twenty albums, including the Grammy-nominated Everybody’s Brother in 2007. His final album, 2014’s Long in the Tooth was his first to chart in Billboard’s Top Country Albums. Shaver’s songs have been recorded and performed by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, The Allman Brothers, and countless other legendary artists and his signature song, “Live Forever,” was performed by Robert Duvall in the 2009 film Crazy Heart. He was honoured with the first ever Americana Music Award for Lifetime Achievement in Songwriting in 2002, was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver Track Listing:
1. Willie Nelson (w/ Lucinda Williams) – Live Forever
2. Ryan Bingham (w/ Nikki Lane) – Ride Me Down Easy
3. Rodney Crowell – Old Five And Dimers Like Me
4. Miranda Lambert – I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be A Diamond Someday)
5. Edie Brickell – I Couldn’t Be Me Without You
6. Nathaniel Rateliff – You Asked Me To
7. George Strait – Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me
8. Amanda Shires – Honky Tonk Heroes
9. Steve Earle – Ain’t No God In Mexico
10. Margo Price – Ragged Old Truck
11. Willie Nelson – Georgia On A Fast Train
12. Allison Russell – Tramp On Your Street
ADVERTISE WITH LISTENING THROUGH THE LENS
More Music Adventures Await!
Billy Joe Shaver Tribute Album
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