On what would have marked Billy Joe Shaver‘s 83rd birthday, New West Records and Pedernales Records have announced details of Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver. Set to arrive on November 11th, the 12-track album hosts contributions from his colleagues and admirers alike including Willie Nelson, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, Miranda Lambert, Steve Earle, and more. Willie and Lucinda Williams‘ joint take on the title track, “Live Forever”, arrived alongside Tuesday’s album announcement.
Billy Joe Shaver died in October 2020, leaving behind a legacy as a foundational outlaw country singer-songwriter. He alongside artists like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie, and others helped pioneer the sect of country music, and he inspired legions of followers throughout the years from George Strait to Amanda Shires and many more who have all come out to pay their respects.
It was Shaver who penned nearly every song on Jennings’ 1973 breakthrough album, Honky Tonk Heroes, including the title track that Shires covers on Live Forever. Rodney Crowell takes “Old Five And Dimers Like Me”, while Rateliff performs “You Asked Me To”, Strait covers “Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me”, and Earle grabs “Ain’t No God In Mexico”, all of which appeared on Honky Tonk Heroes. Nelson pulls double duty on the album—the only artist to do so—also contributing “Georgia On A Fast Train”.
“He was just real,” Willie said of Shaver. “There wasn’t one phony drop of blood in him.”
Listen to Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams cover “Live Forever” from the upcoming Billy Joe Shaver tribute album, available here for pre-order. Scroll down for the full tracklist and album artwork.
Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams – “Live Forever” (Billy Joe Shaver)
