Real Deal

Billy Joe Shaver | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 20, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Compadre Records
• ASIN: B000AQKYUU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,551 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Live Forever (with Big and Rich)

2. There’s No Fool Like an Old Fool

3. Livin’ and Lovin’ Lie

4. It Just Ain’t There For Me No More

5. Jesus Christ is Still The King

6. Slim Chance and the Can’t Hardly Playboys (with Kevin Fowler)

7. I Changed My Mind

8. Sweet Melody

9. Valentine (with Nanci Griffith)

10. You Ought to be with Me When I’m Alone

11. Down the Road by the Way

12. West Texas Waltz (with Kimmie Rhodes)

13. The Real Deal

14. If the Trailer’s A Rockin’ Don’t Come Knockin’

15. Try and Try Again

16. Aunt Jessie’s Chicken Ranch

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Rough-hewn Texas treasure Billy Joe Shaver is something like that old chunk of coal he once wrote about--except his "diamond" already shines through. On this self-produced effort, his first new studio release in three years, he strips things down to the basics in mostly acoustic arrangements that sometimes recall Hank Williams Sr. at his starkest and most vulnerable. The material--alternately heartbreaking ("Livin' a Lovin' Lie") and outrageously earthy ("If the Trailer's Rockin' Don't Come Knockin'")--cuts a wide path, including two reworked numbers: a hot-wired version of "Live Forever" with Big & Rich, who, led by Big Kenny, sail into an evangelistic romp near the end; and an invigorated solo rendition of "Jesus Christ Is Still the King." Shaver has been to hell and back on a pack horse in the last six years--his wife died after a long bout with cancer; his blazingly talented guitarist son, Eddy, died of a drug overdose; and his own health was threatened. But what a comeback, steeped in his faith in the Almighty and his own power of resurrection. The evidence is here in abundance. "Slim Chance and the Can't Hardly Playboys," a vocal collaboration with Kevin Fowler, showcases Shaver's renewed sense of humor, while "Valentine," an affecting duet with Nanci Griffith, does as much as his recent wedding to spotlight his belief in romance as redemption. There's not much to quibble with here, unless you're a grinch who wants to gripe about Shaver's meandering sense of pitch, his way of sometimes circling around a note before he finally lands. But if you are, there's a bonus track here for you--a sprightly accordion-laced version of "Feliz Navidad" with Flaco Jimenez. This is "The Real Deal," all right. And then some. --Alanna Nash

Product Description

It seems like Billy Joe Shaver has done just about everything. He's written songs for countless artists from Elvis to Bob Dylan, starred in major Hollywood movies, was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and tapped to join Merle Haggard, Toby Keith, Jerry Lee Lewis, Shelby Lynne, and more for CMT's 'Outlaws Concert' in November. However, Billy Joe is not one to rest on his laurels. At age 65, he had added another first to his list of credits by finally taking a turn in the producer's chair for this album. For The Real Deal, his first studio album in three years, Shaver hunkered down in a Pedernales, TX, studio to record 14 out of 15 new tracks for the album. Compadre. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Deal is Straight from a Pure Heart, September 26, 2005

By 

F. Oakley (Yolo County, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Real Deal (Audio CD)

This is an exquisite album. The flavor blossoms with every spin. A couple of the songs are funny, the way Texas songwriters write funny songs. A couple are sad. They just grow the more you listen.

Each new Billy Joe Shaver album is a surprise in many ways. How does he maintain such longevity? Where does he find this seemingly bottomless well of creativity? How can he make all these old things seem new again? The huge suprise to me in this, his first self-produced album, is the frank, unapologetic retro sound. This is the music I grew up hearing on my dad's old 78's. Steel guitar, heartbreak, grownup love, and Jesus.

And this is a mellow album. Even "Slim Chance" and "If the Trailer's Rockin", songs in which Billy is apparantly "channelling Roger Miller" (as Robert Ealr Keen once observed) are distinctly kind songs.

What is not surprising, for anyone who knows his work, is the sincerity and profound beauty of most of the songs. "Profound" is the correct word. When Billy asks "Will you be my Valentine...will you let our hearts entwine?", you know he's talking about marrying the same woman three times in an effort to get it right in the end. You know he's referring to our lives, to making a go of it with that less than perfect man who held your heart while your dad died, to loving that kid who just can't seem to graduate from rehab, to loving a God who seems to keep heaping on the trials along with the blessings.

You gotta stand in awe of Billy Joe Shaver. He is as he sings. Pure and without pretense. And beautiful.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another masterpiece, October 5, 2005

By 

Tim Hanson "boatguy" (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Real Deal (Audio CD)

I would have given it more stars if I could. A true artist, it makes you feel like the songs are being sung directly to you, music like this is the best. Real Country, not just bad rock and roll.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Billy Joe Shaver IS the Real Deal - No Doubt!, November 26, 2005

By 

Louis Peanut "Animal Lover" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Real Deal (Audio CD)

I saw first Billy Joe Shaver on the CMT Outlaw show hosted by Merle Haggard and Toby Keith in early November. I heard Mr. Shaver sing two songs, both of which are on this wonderful CD. I was spellbound knowing I was hearing the raw truth especially after listening to him tell what happened to his family. I went out the next day and bought this great CD. I listen to Billy Joe Shaver every day. I keep hitting "repeat" button on "Try Try Again" and "I'm Going to Live Forever". I truly can't get enough of his songs now that I have discovered him.