Billy Joe Shaver to Be Saluted by Willie Nelson and Americana All-Stars in Tribute Album Worthy of an Outlaw
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticBilly Joe Shaver, one of the figureheads of the “outlaw country” movement that came out of Texas and flourished in the 1970s, is the subject of a forthcoming tribute album that sees some of the top names in country and Americana saluting the late legend, including Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Nathaniel Rateliff, Rodney Crowell and Margo Price.
The project, “Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver,” comes out on New West Nov. 11.The title track, a Nelson recording of “Live Forever” with Lucinda Williams on harmony vocals, premieres on Variety today.Others included in a mix of artists that ranges from Shaver’s contemporaries to younger stars in the mainstream or on the fringes are Amanda Shires, Allison Russell, Edie Brickell and Ryan Bingham with Nikki Lane.The producers behind the project are Charlie Sexton, a Texas recording artist more recently seen as a featured guitarist in Bob Dylan’s and now Elvis Costello’s bands; and Freddy Fletcher, somewhat of a Austin legend in his own right as a producer, player and studio owner, not to mention a member of the extended Nelson family and a friend and working associate of Shaver’s for 50 years. “We were just dear friends, you know,” says Fletcher, “and a few years before he passed, he just asked me, ‘Hey, if something ever happens to me, make my music live.’ And I said, ‘You got it, buddy.’ But I would’ve done this anyway.”Upholding the legacy of Shaver, who died in 2020 at age 81, requires some careful and passionate handling.
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