Old Five & Dimers: Billy Joe Shaver & Norm MacDonald

Remember when you first heard that Keith Richards and Johnny Depp hung out together? The news was a little weird, but also totally cool and it made total sense. And if you were anything like me you were a little jealous that your life didn't include hanging out with them because they no doubt swap some pretty interesting stories—that, and they're impossibly rich and could probably help me with my student debt and maybe pick up a few more tabs than my friends currently do. You know, life in an entourage. Well here's a story that is even more weird, but makes me more jealous, and fills my heart with so much more joy than knowing that two Richie Riches swill Courvoisier together at their estates in the south of France: in a new interview with No Depression country music legend Billy Joe Shaver—author of numerous Outlaw Country classics, including what is arguably the greatest country song ever written, "Honky Tonk Heroes"—lets it drop that he and Canadian comedy great Norm MacDonald are friends. "We call each other a lot," Shaver says, "Out on this road, a lot of times not getting what you deserve. You gotta have a sense of humor man." Too true. Gots to have a sense of humor man. That's just fundamental, Tao Te Ching-maxim #1, kind of stuff. The article moves on from there without plumbing the depths of this suggestion (i.e., what these frequent conversations might entail, how the two met, what Shaver's favorite part of "Dirty Work" is, etc), but what is important to remember is that Norm MacDonald calls Billy Joe Shaver on a regular basis to shoot the shiz! This news fills me with so much joy. Don't you just love it when two of your favorite things come together?! Like when Boy George was on the A-Team. Yeah, like that. More after the jump...

After reading the No Depression piece I found this interview with Norm in which he also mentions his friendship with Shaver. So it's mutual. That interview with Norm is a good read, and I would definitely recommend reading the whole interview with Shaver at No Depression. And the bio on Shaver's website is also pretty great. Even if you're not into country, Shaver is just an interesting guy. He is the writer behind a lot of Waylon Jennings' most well known songs, and is responsible for helping to shift Jennings' music away from more traditional Nashville sounds as the two helped define what would become known as Outlaw Country in the 1970s. And apart from his music, Shaver's personal life also has all the elements of a good Outlaw Country song. Most recently, for instance, in 2007, while he was in his late 70s, he was charged with shooting a man in the face in Lorena Texas—and, yes, this is now is my second post of the day that involves country music singers and men getting shot. It's a theme that wasn't planned, but apparently it's a trend and I'll have to think about making it a regular feature. Back to Shaver, though: he testified self defense in the shooting and was acquitted of the charges in 2010. Damn straight. Before he was acquitted, though, I wonder what he and Norm talked about. Because Norm has some thoughts on what goes on in prison, and they go a little something like this: