Join us for an amazing day of Cornhole, Food, & Music for a cause!
Texas State Songwriters Championship is on a mission to provide a network of support for independent artists, and help artists get their story heard!
We are excited to bring on of our TSSC 2023 -3rd Place WINNERS, BAD BOY LEROY! To, Mexia, Tx! He travels all over the country performing for venues, meeting new people, and making new friends! He encompasses our vision of diversity, unity, acceptance, and community!
Leroy will be singing original songs, including his current new release, Blue-Tick Hound, and the NEWEST SONG COMING UP- Cruisin' In My Pickup Truck, with his band! So, Stop by and bring your guitar! We are looking for the next upcoming artists!
This is not a competition, it's a talent search. A chill environment, where you can come and song swap with one of our 2023 contestants, learn about the Texas State Songwriters Champtionship, and possibly earn your way to the FINALE & a booking at Marty's Place! There is no entry fee, for artists who bring their guitar! _ please email me for spot on the list! texasbrewradio@gmail.com
This is a networking event for music, business, and anyone in the community to come out and enjoy an entire day that helps support our mental health awareness organization, TSSC.
With Cornhole Tournament starting at noon $25 entry can be found on www.martysplacetx.com
Food 5-10pm - Food Truck Contest
Music 4-7 artists exposure opportunity - sign up free
7-8pm friends of Billy Joe Shaver take the stage to share music and memories.
8-12pm Bad Boy Leroy Single Release Partyyyyy!!!
Do you know an artist in your community? Do you think they have a good story? Think they need more exposure? TELL THEM TO COME!
Have them contact us by email- cynthiatexaspromoter@gmail.com to learn more about this event and our organization! We help worldwide artists!
Contacting provides a chance to get send to radio contacts and more!
We look forward to getting to know the Songwriters in Mexia, Tx metro area and anyone who wants to travel to join us for this amazing exposure and networking opportunity!
Thank you Jim, at KNES 99.1 for making this possible!
billy joe shaver
Shaver was born in Corsicana, Texas and raised by his mother Vicotry Watson Shaver. Until he was 12, he spent a great deal of time with his grandmother in Corsicana, so his mother could work in Waco. He sometimes accompanies his mother to her job at a local nightclub, where he was first exposed to country music.
Shaver's mother remarried about the time that his grandmother died, and Shaver and his older sister Partricia moved in with their mother and new stepfather. Shaver left school after teh eighth grade to help his uncles pick cotton, but occassionally returned to school to play sports!
Shaver joined the U.S. Navy on his 17th birthday. Upon his discharge, he worked a series of dead-end jobs, including trying to be a rodeo clown. About this time, he met and married Brenda Joyce Tindell. They had one son, John Edwin, known as Eddy, who was born in 1962. The two divorced and remarried several times.
Shaver took a job at a lumber mill to make ends meet. One day, his right (dominant) hand became caught in the machinery, and he lost the better part of two fingers and contracted a serious infection. He eventually recovered and taught himself to play the guitar without the missing fingers.
Shaver set out to hitchhike to Los Angeles. He could not get a ride west, so he went to the other side of the highway and headed east, accompanying a man who dropped him off just outside Memphis, Tennessee. The next right brought him to Nashville, where he found a job as a songwriter for $50 per week. His work came to the attention of Waylon Jennings, who filled most of his album HONKY TONK HEROS with Shaver's songs after meeting in a travel trailer at Willie Nelson's 4th of July picnic. Other artists, including Elvis Presley and Kris Kristofferson, began to record Shaver's music. This led him to him getting his own record deal!
The first few recording companies he signed with soon folded. He was never able to gain widespread recognition as a singer, although he never stopped recording his own music! On his records, he has been accompanied by other major rock and country musicians such as Willie Nelson, Nanci Griffith, Chuck Leavell and Dickey Betts (of the Allman Brothers), Charlie Daniels, Flaco Jimenez, and Al Kooper.
After losing his wife, Brenda, and his mother to cancer in 1999, Shaver lost his son and longtime guitarist, Eddy Shaver, who died at age 38 on Dec 31, 2000. The listed cause of death was heroin overdose, but there were suspicious circumstances surrounding the case as his face was bruised as if he had been punched multiple times, and the daughter of an Austin police officer was at the residence at the time. Folk country artist Todd Snider wrote and dedicated his song “Waco Moon” to Eddy. Shaver nearly died the following year when he had a heart attack on stage during and Independence Day show at Grune Hall in New Braunfels, Texas. After successful heart surgery, Shaver came back to release Freedom's Child in 2002.
In 1999, Shaver performed at the Grand Old Opry. In November 2005, he performed on the CMT OUTLAWS 2005. In 2006, Shaver was inducted in the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. He later served as a spiritual advisor to Texas independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman. For his efforts, the Americana Music Convention awarded him their Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting. He lived in Waco, Texas.
Bob Dylan mentioned Shaver in his song, “I Feel A Change Comin' On” (Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter) on the album, Together Through Life (2009) - “I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver, and I'm reading James Joyce”. Shaver is also the “hero” of the song. “Why Can't I Write Like Billy Joe” on the album Stormy Love by Bugs Henderson.
Shaver's voice is heard on the themes to the Adult Swim television show Squidbillies. The opening themes are only a stanza long and end with a sotto voce spoken-word portion. Season 1 Episode 5 of Mike Judges Tales From The Tour Bus features the life of Shaver.
~BAD BOY LEROY~
