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Billy Joe Shaver Charged With Shooting 

On April 1, authorities in Austin, Texas issued an arrest warrant for outlaw country singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver.  Shaver was accused of shooting a man in the face outside of Papa Joe's Texas Saloon in Lorena, a suburb of Waco. The shot apparently grazed the cheek of Billy B. Coker, who was treated and released from a Waco hospital.  On April 4, Shaver turned himself in to authorities and was released after posting a $50,000 bond.   

According to Shaver's attorney, the shooting was an act of self-defense resulting from the threatening actions of drunk patron who followed Shaver from the bar. The attorney alleged that Coker was wielding a knife and behaving aggressively when Shaver fired his gun in self-defense.  According to KWTX-TV in Waco, witness affidavits submitted with the arrest warrant suggest a different version of events. According to the witness affidavits, Shaver followed Coker from the bar and made several statements to Coker prior to the shooting including "Where do you want it?" and "Nobody tells me to shut up."

Shaver's rise to fame as a singer-songwriter was boosted by Waylon Jennings' decision to record an entire album of Shaver's songs in the early 1970s. The resulting album, Honky Tonk Heroes, is often cited as the genesis of the outlaw country movement spearheaded by Jennings, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and others. Shaver has had several hits on his own, including "Georgia On a Fast Train," "You Asked Me Too," and "I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I'm Going to be a Diamond Someday)." In 2006, Shaver was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame.

In a strange coincidence of timing, Shaver released a greatest hits collection on Compadre Records just three days after the shooting incident.                  

(April 8, 2007)