SLCene Suggests: Billy Joe Shaver at The State Room

BILLY JOE SHAVER, THE STATE ROOM, Saturday, Oct. 20, 9 p.m., $20

Country songs are often full of vibrant outlaw imagery, but all too often the person delivering the song is merely acting the part of a rabble-rousing cowboy. Not so with Billy Joe Shaver, a Texas songwriting legend whose tunes capture their creator’s own crazy life and times running around the Lone Star State, including a dicey situation just five years ago when Shaver nearly went to jail for shooting a man outside a bar. A lot of big names have grabbed hold of Shaver’s tunes for their own albums and live shows, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Willie Nelson, who once argued that Shaver is the best songwriter of them all. This summer, Shaver released Live at Billy Bob’s Texas, a set of the man doing the dirty work of performing himself, and now you have a chance to see him do the same. It’s classic-country poetry and gritty Texas tales are your trip, this is a show not to miss. Local roots-rockers Ghostowne open the show.