Mark Watson has raised about half of the estimated $ 30,000 needed to erect a bronze statue of Shaver in Corsicana .
FILE photo | Explore Corsicana songwriters , regardless of genre . So it struck me as funny that his accomplishments aren ’ t more celebrated in his birthplace .
Lefty Frizzell , that other country music legend who once called Corsicana home , has a statue and a museum dedicated to him in Pioneer Village . For two years running , Lefty ’ s brother David hosted a “ Leftyfest ” concert in town , and just last year a production company came to Corsicana to film scenes for a Frizzell biopic . All that for a guy who moved to Arkansas when he was a baby and never once looked back .
Shaver , on the other hand , was inextricably linked to Corsicana throughout his life . He was born here on August 16 , 1939 , to Victory Watson Shaver and Buddy Shaver , an abusive drunk who left before Billy Joe was born , and he grew up in the home of his grandmother , Birdie Lee Collins
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Watson , on 15th Street .
There Shaver spent his formative years . When he wasn ’ t “ picking cotton , raising hell and bailing hay ,” as he put it , he was in church , where his devout Christian faith first took hold , or playing guitar and singing , all with Birdie Lee ’ s encouragement .
At the age of 12 he moved to Waco to live with Victory , who had been off slinging drinks at a roadhouse called the Green Gables , but by all accounts Shaver treasured the simple pleasures of his Corsicana childhood . In later years he penned the song “ Corsicana Daily Sun ,” in which he mourned those bygone days , and he included a short vignette called “ KAND , Corsicana , Texas ” on his 1993 album Tramp on Your Street .
According to one source , there was a movement some years ago to have a stretch of 15th Street renamed “ Billy Joe Shaver Way ,” but that never came to fruition . Corsicana resident and Shaver ’ s second cousin Mark Watson isn ’ t sure why , but he believes Billy Joe ’ s lifestyle played a part in Corsicana keeping him at arm ’ s length .
“ I think it had to do with his reputation ,” Mark says . “ People hear that he shot someone and all that , and they think , well , that ’ s not what we want to associate with .”
To be sure , Shaver was no Frizzell . Lefty was Elvis before Elvis , a polished crooner in fringe-andrhinestone suits who made the women swoon , and whatever personal demons he had were quietly swept under the rug by record label flunkies . By contrast , Billy Joe Shaver was never a success in the traditional sense of money and fame , and he certainly wasn ’ t polished .