Post Description

On his third album for Columbia, Billy Joe Shaver went back to the basics. Issued in 1982, long after the sheen had faded on the outlaw movement, of which Kris Kristofferson called Shaver the most authentic of the bunch, and despite five albums, he remained a figure in the shadows, though most folks knew his songs. Like Dan Penn a decade later, Shaver decided to record a set of his classics and put them out there for public consumption in a modern setting. While it didn't work commercially, it made for a hell of a record. Shaver's redos of "Been to Georgia on a Fast Train," "Ride Me Down Easy," "Lowdown Freedom," "Old Five and Dimers Like Me," "One Moving Part," "Tell Me Virginia," "How Many Hearts Must You Break," and others are delivered with the kind of humble yet burning passion that Shaver put into the songs in the first place. Here he sings them for all they're worth, wringing every ounce of spirituality, emotion, and Texas grit from the heart of them. Shaver comes across as a bigger-than-life Buddha, recounting both good times and bad, all of them held in a kind of equanimity to be reflected upon, learned from, and imparted from his experience. This is a songwriter's album to be sure, but it is also a singer's album. Never had Shaver sounded so assured, so full in possession of his voice, or so sure of his direction as on this album from 1982.

Artist: Billy Joe Shaver
Title: The Essential Billy Joe Shaver
Year Of Release: 2015
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Genre: Country
Quality: flac lossless
Total Time: 02:13:47
Total Size: 806

Tracklist
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CD1
01. I Been to Georgia On a Fast Train
02. Old Five and Dimers Like Me
03. Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me
04. Jesus Christ, What a Man
05. Jesus Was Our Saviour and Cotton Was Our King
06. Good Christian Soldier
07. I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I'm Gonna Be a Diamond Someday)
08. When the Word Was Thunderbird
09. Fit to Kill and Going Out In Style
10. Blue Texas Waltz
11. It Ain't Nothing New Babe
12. The Road
13. Ragged Old Truck
14. Saturday Night
15. (We Are) The Cowboys
16. Ride Me Down Easy
17. Amtrak
18. Bottom Dollar
19. How Many Hearts Must You Break
20. One Moving Part

CD2
01. Low Down Freedom
02. Oklahoma Wind
03. Love You Till the Cows Come Home (Single Version)
04. You Can't Beat Jesus Christ
05. The Devil Made Me Do It the First Time
06. Fun While It Lasted
07. Hardworkin' Man
08. Hill Country Love Song
09. Whiteman's Watermelon
10. Street Walkin' Woman
11. Good News Blues
12. Tramp On Your Street
13. Heart of Texas
14. When the Fallen Angels Fly
15. Live Forever
16. I Want Some More/Tenntex Tear Down
17. The Hottest Thing In Town (Live)
18. Honky Tonk Heroes (Live)
19. Sweet Mama (Live)
20. You Asked Me To (Live)