Shaver
Tramp on Your Street (Zoo/Praxis) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2
For all you young ‘uns who think the School of Texas Songwriting opened its doors sometime around the start of the last South by Southwest music fiesta in Austin, here’s Billy Joe Shaver to set the record straight. The Old Five and Dimer was responsible for writing most of the songs on one of the truly great country albums of the ’70s, Waylon Jennings’ “Honky Tonk Heroes” (1973), and he returns in “Tramp on Your Street” with more of the same craggy autobiographical stuff. This time, he’s joined by son Eddy on guitars and Al Kooper on keyboards (Waylon shows up for a vocal or two). It’s all Texas tough, tavern tested and a rollicking good time, especially on “Heart of Texas,” “Tramp on Your Street” (with a nod toward Hank Sr.), “The Hottest Thing in Town” and “Old Lump of Cold.” Eddy and Al add a rock sensibility but the soul is supplied by the quintessential Outlaw himself.
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