Billy Joe Shaver -The Memphis Suntan Pill Incident -( Kenny Vaughan )

What's your favorite Billy Joe Shaver song?

I went to Eddy Shaver’s funeral and burial. Offered condolences to Billy Joe and had a long conversation with Dickey Betts, who taught Eddy on guitar. Billy Joe was real sweet and on one occasion I approached him for an autograph for my wife, who was dying of cancer. He was so kind as he had a wife who had died of cancer. RIP Billy Joe,

Thanks Otis & Kenny. Everything Kenny had to say about Billy Joe came to my wife & I back a few years. I would go visit my Dad and take my guitar. One song he dearly loved was "Old Chunk of Coal". On his last day of consciousness we sang it for about 20 minutes. I played the song at his funeral- most fitting for him. A bit of time later Billy Joe was coming to the Ark in Ann Arbor. My wife, Paula, says you have to go and tell him how much that song means to you. So we bought tickets and went. Loved the show and the place was packed. Because Paula is in a wheelchair it would be near impossible to get to the performers table after the show in that crowd. So I went in the hall and ran into Billy's bass player and briefly told him to tell Billy we loved the show and about the song. So, I rolled Paula to the elevator, we got on with her aide and went down. The door opened and BAM! Billy Joe Shaver standing right there. He looked at us and when he noticed Paula in her chair, he went right down on one knee and said "Thank you so much for coming to see me, I know it wasn't easy for you" I said "this is Paula" He reached for her hand, gave it a little kiss and he said "Paula Darling". He stood up and thanked us again and I was able to tell him about my Dad and the song. He said "Well you folks are about the best thing that's happened to me today". I said "I know you gotta get upstairs thanks so much for your kindness". He looked at the exit door and hiked one leg in the air, spun on the other heel and hustled to the door to hold it open. Another Kiss for Paula, a handshake for me, and a hug for our caregiver. We went out onto the sidewalk and our aide said "What a nice guy!" She never knew who he was a until that night. "Yes he is" Paula said.

Eddie shaver is one of the greatest unknown guitarist of all time

The book is really good. There's a passage about how his father in law always said "we gotta go fix this" or "we gotta go do that", but what he really meant was "you gotta go fix this" or "you gotta go do that." Damned if I haven't known plenty of sonsabitches just like that! When he snuck off and saw Hank Williams, he said Hank looked right at him for the whole show, like he was singing just for him. I've often thought maybe Hank passed along the gift to Billy Joe. He carried on in fine fashion, so simple, and yet so profound.

I saw Billy Joe in Corpus Christi, TX in the early 200's. He was in a little bar on a Sunday after church. There weren't many people in the bar. It was after Eddie and his wife passed away. He told us what was what. Great show. Underappreciated.

I met Billy Jo at the blue note in Columbia Mo on a Sunday night. I had tea with him and the band next door. Billy Joe took us to church his band was the best 3 piece band I ever heard. RiP. BJS 🙏

All of them. The Dynamite story was another great story told by Billy Joe

Ok. Now I gotta go out and buy Billy Joe's book!

Billy was one of my best friends and I miss him everyday. We did a lot of those little shows in strip malls with him. All over the country. He was still doing it up until he passed.

Kenny is a good guy. Billy was one of a kind. My favorite Billy Joe song is Live Forever.

I love hearing Kenny tell stories, not to mention one of my favorite players!!!MY FAVORITE BILLY JOE SONG ... it’s a tough one but probably Fast train to GA . It’s one I’ve sang since I was a kid because my Grandparents & my mother would be singing it around the house .

I saw Billy Joe Shaver under similar circumstances. His son looked about 19 or 20 at the time. It was a great show, so many great songs.

Did a gig with Billy Joe in Austin back in the 80’s. Absolutely one of the nicest people I ever met. Still have a picture of me and him at that gig. One of my prized possessions.

I could sit and listen to Kenny Vaughan talk for a week and not get tired of it. He was on a video somewhere else with another famous guitarist and in guy interviewsing them stayed out of the way and they talked guitarese, they were so wrapped up in guitars it was like watching a foriegn language movie without the words. I loved it because there is something about Kenny Vaughan that is so real and he comes across as such a great human being listening to him is a treat. Of course Billy Joe Shaver stories could never get old, thank you for putting this on I appreciate it.

I was driving to Nashville the day Billy Joe died. That meant I heard six and a half hours of stories, interviews, and his songs, while trying to out run a hurricane watch.

I saw Billy Joe at Work Play in Birmingham, Al years back. I was close enough for hm to see me singing every song right along with him. His songs were so personable and related to me on so many levels. They’re too many of his songs to nail it down to just one as a favorite. I discovered his music in the early nineties when he was playing with Eddy. Eddy knocked my socks off as an incredible guitar player with the same passion, power and energy comparable only to the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan. Guitar picking like that is “Texas” thing I’m sure. Words can never convey what Billy Joe Shaver’s songs and Eddy’s virtuosity will always mean to me.

"I'm just an old chunk of coal" is a great one. Thanks Otis!

Haha, classic.... Billy Joe Shaver, man there'll never be another like him.

Gig stories are the best. Hung out with famous and just great guys who loved music through the seventies and eighties. So many crazy things happened I loved all those memories.