Billy Joe Shaver - Billy and the Kid

Although to some it may seem a little ghoulish, this album instead comes across as a very honest and loving tribute from father to son as Billy Joe completes the unfinished work of his son, Eddy, who passed away on December 31, 2000. Combining Eddy's hard-charging country-rock and Billy Joe's warm roots sound, this disc is simply beautiful.

Eddy Shaver died of a heroin overdose in the early morning hours of December 31, 2000, leaving a grief-stricken father and a small body of unfinished work. As a guitarist, Eddy Shaver was genius. He filled in for Pete Anderson in Dwight Yoakam's early touring years; he understood country guitar as well as the rock he favored; and he made music he loved for a small but extremely appreciative audience.

Billy Joe Shaver has taken some of his late son's unfinished tracks and put them together on this disc, adding some vocals where needed, and has produced this final collaboration which deftly merges Eddy's hard-charging rocking sounds with Billy Joe's softer roots approach. Together they form one tremendous Americana disc.

It's not every posthumous release that can be this good. Eddy Shaver was one of the finest guitar players of his generation, and it's impossible to tell what could have been. Billy Joe obviously needed to do this for his son, and the loving touches he gives to each track make the whole shine. For anyone who appreciates pure roots music and absolutely killer guitar, this disc is it.