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ACL: Billy Joe Shaver
One might say, with considerable justification, that Billy Joe Shaver is not overly preoccupied with razor-sharp stagecraft. He is just as apt to use his guitar for a hatrack as he is to pick it up and strum a desultory chord or two. If guitarist Jeremy Woodall is in the midst of a particularly satisfying solo, his boss might just choose to sit back on his haunches, sip some water, and listen appreciatively before getting up to resume his own performance.
Yet there is something undeniably mesmerizing about watching Shaver, who performed on the Austin Ventures stage Sunday evening. Perhaps it’s because he has, among all the ACL performers (with the exception of the gospel singers, among whom he would be very much at home), the clearest appreciation for mortality. Angels seem to hover closer to him than to other artists and he often raises his arms to salute them and perhaps beckon them a little closer.
Shaver’s canon is so well known and so highly-revered that it seems almost beside the point to mention the particulars, but yes, he did perform “Georgia On a Fast Train,” “Ride Me Down Easy” (performed as a bucking honky-tonker, versus Waylon Jennings’ meditative version), “The Hottest Thing In Town,” (“We’re gonna get back to the sinful stuff,” he said in introducing that one), “Black Rose” and “I’m Just An Old Chunk of Coal.”
There was also, no surprise, a strong spiritual component to his music—more than any country singer since Hank Williams, Shaver is able to reconcile the sacred and the profane. “When Fallen Angels Fly,” “I’m Gonna Live Forever” and “Jesus Christ Is Still the King” served to remind festivalgoers (and perhaps he himself) that it may be a party, but it’s still Sunday. Or, as he jovially saluted the audience, “If you don’t love Jesus Christ, go to hell!”
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By shaverfan
September 16, 2007 9:22 PM | Link to this
shaver was amazing tonight! he never seems to disappoint. I can’t wait for his new record on sept 25.
By Diana Finlay Hendricks
September 18, 2007 1:21 AM | Link to this
“Angels seem to hover closer to him than to other artists and he often raises his arms to salute them and perhaps beckon them a little closer.”
John T, This may be one of the best lines you’ve ever written..! Thanks, DFH San Marcos