Concert

Ballroom Marfa welcomed the legendary Billy Joe Shaver, supported by two of Texas’s most lauded young singer-songwriters, Adam Carroll & Scrappy Jud Newcomb, to play live in the intimate surrounds of the Crowley Theater.

Original outlaw-country musician hailing from Waco, Texas – Billy Joe Shaver has never become a household name, but his songs, including “Good Christian Soldier,” “Willie the Wandering Gypsy and Me,” and “I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train”, became country standards during the 1970s. His reputation among musicians and critics has not diminished in the ensuing decades.

Shaver did a quick turn in the Navy and worked a series of nowhere jobs, before trying his luck in Nashville. His songs began to see the light thanks to Kris Kristofferson (“Good Christian Soldier”), Tom T. Hall (“Willie the Wandering Gypsy and Me”), Bobby Bare (“Ride Me Down Easy”) and later, the Allman Brothers (“Sweet Mama”) and Elvis Presley (“You Asked Me To”). Shaver’s real breakthrough though, came in 1973 when Waylon Jennings recorded an album composed almost entirely of Shaver’s songs, Honky Tonk Heroes, which was largely considered the first true “outlaw” album.

In 1999, Shaver was invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. In 2006 he was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. Recently he served as spiritual advisor to Texas independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman. For his songwriting and his much deserved legendary status, the Americana Music Convention awarded him their Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting.

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