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*** Shaver
UNSHAVEN: SHAVER LIVE AT SMITH'S OLDE BAR
(Zoo/Praxis)
**1/2 Billy Joe Shaver
RESTLESS WIND: THE LEGENDARY BILLY JOE SHAVER 1973-1987
(Razor & Tie)
Billy Joe Shaver lingered decades in the shadows while Nashville's outlaw stars -- especially Waylon Jennings -- covered his weather-beaten, confessional songs. Now teamed up with his fiery guitarist son Eddy as the band Shaver, Billy Joe's finally getting some limelight. Never mind that his albums merely keep rearranging his best writing: Eddy's so versatile, the recyclings don't seem redundant. Taught by Dickie Betts, Eddy can even make an occasional acoustic track sound nasty on the pared-down guitar/bass/drums Unshaven, which was co-produced by Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam) in a Georgia roadhouse where country, blues, and rock all sweat together.
On "Good News Blues," Billie Joe snarls with unabashed orneriness, "My old gal left me and I'm glad she took the kid." Yet there's soft charm and soul searching, too. The line in "Georgia on a Fast Train," about underdog Billy Joe's mother deserting him at birth, is gospel truth. Fortunately, his confessions are never self-absorbed. The lower-octane 18-track retrospective Restless Wind shows Billy Joe's knack for bending a note from a guttural growl to a high, airy cry. Seems the line from "Old Lump of Coal" is finally coming true: "I'll be a diamond someday."
-- Bruce Sylvester
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