Greatest Hits

Billy Joe Shaver | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 3, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Compadre Records
• ASIN: B000LC5AXY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,992 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #51 in Music > Country > Roadhouse Country
  • #91 in Music > Country > Outlaw Country

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Johnny Cash once called him "my favorite songwriter," and Waylon Jennings recorded nearly an entire album (Honky Tonk Heroes) of his material in 1973--lots of folks insist that was the first true "outlaw" record. Billy Joe Shaver, whose "Old Chunk of Coal," "Georgia on a Fast Train," and "Old Five and Dimers" rank as standards of Texas singer-songwriter lore, is closer to his 70th birthday than his 60th, but he still burns it down on stage, and he still lives the soulful, close-to-the-bone life of his impoverished, raggedy-ass youth. These days, it would be easy for the five-time Grammy nominee to lean on his woeful personal story--growing up picking cotton and dropping out of school in the eighth grade, then losing his wife, mother, and guitarist son, Eddy, in a matter of months at the turn of the millennium. Instead, he continues to challenge himself in his writing. This collection of his best-loved songs (it's erroneous to call them "hits") contains a driving live rendition of "Georgia" and two new offerings (the remarkable love song "Light a Candle for Me" and the tongue-in-cheek "Melody") as well as some lubricated on-stage preaching and storytelling. (It also reprises his unfortunate duet with Big & Rich on "Live Forever"... but let's pretend that never happened.) Shaver's singing remains an acquired taste, rivaling a rusty barn-door latch rattling in the wind. Yet in the age of Pro-Tooled prettiness, authenticity never sounded more welcome. --Alanna Nash

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest songwriters. Ever., April 12, 2007

By 

DanD - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

Along with Kris Kristofferson, Shel Silversteen, and a small handful of others, Billy Joe Shaver influenced country songwriting forever. His honest, true-to-the-bone lyrics and rough and rowdy lifestyle (he was just recently involved in a shooting down in Texas) have made him the Poet Laureate for the down-trodden and ne'er-do-wells. GREATEST HITS compiles some of this legend's most provocative work, as only he could perform it.

Shaver's songs range from the patriotic enthusiasm of "Good Ol USA," to the whistfulness of "Melody," to the raucous delight of "Honk Tonk Heroes," to the beautifully poignant of "When Fallen Angels Fly." On the rowdy "Georgia on a Fast Train," he proudly sings of his eighth grade education; he may be sending the wrong message to the youth of today, but let's face it, we don't give a good god-darn. He's an old chunk of coal, who will one day be a diamond; he praises the hottest girl in town, who used to hang around with Heaven 'til she learned too much; he's tempted by a rose of a different name; he's an old five and dimer and still dang-proud of it. But, truthfully, we can sum up Billy Joe Shaver with one simple paraphrase of one of his most elegant songs: like the greatest that humanity has to offer, Billy Joe Shaver is gonna live forever.

5.0 out of 5 stars Thee Very best there is, January 13, 2012

By 

Concern Citizen "CCC" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

I have bought every album Billy Joe has made. He is my all time favorite singer/songwriter. Its too bad he is not better known. Everybody that I have played his music to ends up loving him and his songs. Treat yourself.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars billy Joe Shaver, September 15, 2010

By 

Pamela J. Stahl "PJS" (WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

He was listening to "Billy Joe Shaver, Reading James Joyce". Bob Dylan that is and that is why I bought this for my boyfriend. He has not gotten the gift yet but I KNOW he'll love it. prompt delivery.