Austin Sound

Hey, remember that time country legend Billy Joe Shaver shot that guy in the face and then drove off, and even came down to Austin to play an instore at Waterloo while an arrest warrant was out for him? Yeah, that was just last year! Last week the 69 year old Texas Country Music Hall of Famer was officially indicted by a McLennan County grand jury on second degree felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawfully carrying a handgun by a license holder on licensed premises. Shaver could face up 20 years in prison if convicted!

As the Stateman’s blog reported a few days ago, this year’s Grammy nominations include a few notable Austin nods, including two for legendary blues pianist Pinetop Perkins in the Traditional Blues Album category. The albums recognized are Perkins’ live efforts Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas and Pinetop Perkins On The 88’s - Live In Chicago.

Also garnering nominations were Patty Griffin in Contemporary Folk/Americana Album for her latest, Children Running Through and Billy Joe Shaver for Everybody’s Brother in the Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album of the year.

4/3/07
Yesterday evening reports began to come in that Texas Country Music Hall of Famer Billy Joe Shaver was involved in a shooting outside a bar in Lorena, TX. Now, the Associated Press has reported that Shaver’s attorney, Austin based Joseph A. Turner, announced that the songwriter did, in fact, shoot and wound a man in self-defense in the parking lot of Papa Joe’s Texas Saloon on Saturday night and a warrant was issued for his arrest late Monday night.

An article on MSNBC.com claims that “a drunk, aggressive stranger with a knife” followed Shaver outside the bar when the incident occurred around 8:40pm. Witnesses say the shooter sped off in his car while the victim returned to the bar holding his bloody face, and, despite having been shot in the cheek, “was talking and alert afterwards,” according to police, Shaver attempted to turn himself in on Monday to Austin police, but had not been charged at that point.