Honky Tonk Hero

Additional Honky Tonk Hero Information

Willie Nelson says "Billy Joe Shaver may be the best songwriter alive today," and legions of fans agree that Billy Joe is the real deal. Many describe his songs as pure poetry. Shaver sings about a life that's been full of hard times, wild living, and a forty-year-long passion for his late wife Brenda. His songs are raw, honest, and so true that people hear the story of their own lives in his music. No wonder, then, that his songs have also been recorded by artists such as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Patty Loveless, John Anderson, Tom T. Hall, the Allman Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, and Tex Ritter.

In this compelling autobiography written with the assistance of Brad Reagan, Billy Joe Shaver looks back over a life that some might call a miracle of survival. His father abandoned the family before Billy Joe was born. Troubles in school and in the military turned him into a fighter, and a sawmill accident claimed two fingers and part of a third on his right hand. Yet his innate musical talent and the encouragement of an English teacher set him on the road to being a songwriter—and he never looked back. Shaver recounts his long struggle to break into the music business in Nashville and the success that came when Waylon Jennings recorded his songs on the 1973 album Honky Tonk Heroes, which became a landmark of outlaw country music. Shaver movingly describes his own thirty-year, up-and-down career as a singer-songwriter in Nashville and Texas, his bouts with alcohol and drugs, his pleasure in touring with his son Eddy and their band Shaver during the 1990s, and the pain of losing Eddy, Brenda, and Billy Joe's mother all within the year 1999-2000.

As full of life, heartbreak, and drama as any of Billy Joe Shaver's songs, Honky Tonk Hero is the story of a man who not only walked on the wild side and lived to tell about it, but also got it all down in songs that many people consider to be some of the finest country music ever written.

What Customers Say About Honky Tonk Hero:

Wish it was a bit longer. Billy Joe Shaver rocks. The bio is very informative and personal. However it does include lyrics to all the songs. Great read.

For years my family kept a kept a bundle of life insurance on me because they were sure I would be the first to go. People must read this book. Billy Joe is someone who has truly lived a life and shares it with people in his poems about it: "When you get down to it country music is essentially the blues, and my whole life the blues have never left me. I'm not proud of my misfortune--I'm proud of my survival. There is no need to complain about the brevity of Billy Joe's life story (75 pages). I've lost parts of 3 fingers, broke my back, suffered a heart attack and a quadruple bypass, had a steel plate put in my neck and 136 stitches in my head, fought drugs and booze, spent the money I had, and burried my wife, son, and mother in the span of 1 year.

You will ponder and grin at every word while he tells his life's story. I must say I did not know much about Billy Joe before reading this but it is clear that this man can teach everyone the true lessons of life. But as I write this, at 64 years of age, I'm still here and they are all gone." (p.viii)The actual story is short, but it is very weighty at the same time. "But I'm not here to complain or ask for pity. Life is hard for everybody, just in different ways. And after that you will listen to every word of his poems (lyrics) as a glimpse into this mans soul.

As I said It is very heavy and will surely put you into a different place in time, through the eyes of a man who has lived through it all and is alive still to tell about it; into the soul of a life that only a handful know and countless dream about.

A bonus for songwriters like myself, is the section with the lyrics for all of Billy Joe's best known songs. I have been a fan of Billy Joe's for over thirty years and enjoyed getting to know the background of a unique songwriter and fellow Texan. Although short, this was an entertaining read. A neat side note- I got my book autographed after a recent concert in Tyler, Texas. Long live Billy Joe Shaver and Texas Music.

The book was like Billy Joe's music; honest and to the point. It was great reading about his relationships with Waylon and other country stars. The lyrics to all his songs was a wonderful bonus. I only wished there was more.

The book description says 207 pages, but only the first 72 pages are the actual book. The rest of the pages are just lyrics. As one reviewer said "you can read this in one sitting". True, but for $12.97 I guess you can't really complain.