Some fellow Bush-backers and I joined a couple hundred great Americans at the State Theater in Falls Church, VA last night for an evening with Billy Joe Shaver. This underappreciated Texas troubadour premiered a new documentary on his life and then took the stage with a crack band for two solid hours of rockin'-country-the-way-it-was-meant-to-be.
I had Billy Joe and some friends over to the White House back when I was director of media affairs (early 2001) - I'll save that story for later...
Needless to say, Billy Joe's in a industry where politics is basically a excuse for the exercise of intolerance by self-proclaimed liberals (supposedly tolerant folk). I don't know much about Billy Joe's politics. I just know he was proud to sing "Freedom's Choice" last night and dedicate to our troops, "folks just doing their jobs for our country," as he put it.
Shaver is a national treasure - not just because he's a patriot, but because he's a mostly unheralded genius of the heart and soul.
