Billy Joe Shaver,
Billy and the Kid

Label: Compadre Records
Year: 2004

(3½ out of 5)

Eddy Shaver's death from a drug overdose on New Year's Eve 2000 may not have been a shock to those familiar with "the kid." He'd battled various addictions for years and turned to heroin after the deaths of his mother and grandmother earlier that year.

Eddy tried rehab, but it didn't take. The demons he'd been fleeing caught up with him at last.

Billy Joe Shaver has battled his share of demons throughout his 65 years. He's managed to beat most of them, but he couldn't stop Eddy's downward spiral.

With Eddy gone, all Billy Joe can do is ensure he's not forgotten. Billy and the Kid is the father's final tribute to his fallen son.

The album starts movingly, with Billy Joe alone with his guitar on the heartbreaking "Fame": I look up in the stars and wonder where you are / I owe it all to you, your prayers have all come true…God bless you Eddy.

The other tracks are Eddy's compositions, pieced together by Billy Joe and producer Tony Colton. Lyrics were added in some places; instrumentals were layered in others.

The results are as mixed as the processes used to assemble the album.

Eddy's talents are apparent throughout, from his soaring electric guitar riffs on "Baptism of Fire" to his gruff and bluesy vocals on "King of Fools." The whole package is showcased on the closing track, "Necessary Evil."

Then again, his talent was a well-known commodity. Not only had he helped lead Shaver through several critically acclaimed albums, he had also played with Guy Clark, Dwight Yoakam, and other icons. And he was scheduled to head into the recording studio on a solo project just weeks after his death.

Yet his songwriting was still a work in progress. And it's clear that he hadn't yet achieved the lyrical mastery of his father.

Billy Joe's devastating "Fame" sets a high standard that the other tracks just can't match. Its minimalist production and heartfelt intimacy stand in stark contrast to the electric patchwork that blankets much of the rest of the album.

Billy and the Kid is a good album. But with piecemeal and inconsistent production, it's not a great album.

And it's not really a Billy Joe Shaver album. It is a eulogy for Eddy, and in that it succeeds in adding to the kid's curtailed legacy.

Buy: Lone Star Music, Amazon

October 12, 2004