LITTLE ROCK — If only country music ventured into opera and not just the Grand Ole Opry, then the life of Billy Joe Shaver would be prime fodder for just such a musical tale.

The 71-year-old, a legend in his own time and not just in his own mind, has lived a life that would make for a gripping tale. Shaver, who learned at a young age that he had been an unwanted child, has survived the loss of two and a half fingers in a childhood accident while working in a sawmill. Willie Nelson showed up to help Shaver go on with a performance the night after Shaver’s only child, Eddy, died of a heroin overdose, in 2000, and a few months later, at a July Fourth show, Shaver survived a heart attack onstage while performing at Texas’ most famed roadhouse, Gruene Hall. He has married the same woman three times — most recently in the Arkansas Capitol. And in 2010, he was acquitted in the shooting of a bar patron. Robert Duvall was on hand as a character witness.

Not that character witnesses on his behalf are hard to find. In the All Music Guide to Country, reviewer Jana Pendragon, writing about Shaver’s album, Victory, said that Shaver is “the only songwriter who could stand toeto-toe with Hank Williams.”

Shaver, who has relatives in the Magnolia area, must like playing in central Arkansas or at least in the Revolution Room in Little Rock’s River Market District, as he’s returning there this weekend, after a performance there in August — just two nights after his appearance at Farm Aid in Kansas City, Kan.

In the early 1970s, when Shaver was struggling to make a name for himself, along came Waylon Jennings, who recorded nine Shaver compositions on Honky Tonk Heroes that are credited with starting the “Outlaw Country” movement. Later in the decade, country singer John Anderson released his version of Shaver’s “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal” and had a No. 1 hit.

Kris Kristofferson produced Shaver’s debut album, Old Five and Dimers Like Me, in 1973. Shaver songs have also been recorded by an all-star list that includes The Allman Brothers Band, Bobby Bare, Jason Boland, BR549, Johnny Cash, Carol Channing, David Allan Coe, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, Nanci Griffith, George Jones, Tom Jones, Robert Earl Keen, Willie Nelson and Elvis Presley.

Shaver’s band consists of Jeremy Lynn Woodall on guitar, Hank Hogg on bass and Jason McKenzie on drums and percussion.

Tab Benoit and Dash Rip Rock’s leader, Bill Davis, two musicians who recently performed (separately) at central Arkansas venues, are working on an album dedicated to Shaver.

“He’s the original outlaw musician and really, his songs are just awesome,” Davis said before his band’s recent show. “We’re hoping to get that album out in March or April.”

Opening for Shaver are two local fans of the legendary Texan: Amy Garland and Mark Currey (of the band Monkhouse).

“Mark Currey and I played a Starving Artist gig together recently,” Garland explains. “When he saw Billy Joe was playing at the Rev Room, he cold-called Chris King and asked him if we could open up [as a duet]. He said he also mentioned to Chris that I had one of the only radio shows that regularly play Mr. Shaver’s music. Not sure if that had something to do with it. Since Mark is an awesome preacher, I am thinking he has got some kind of pact with God or something … and that is how we got it.”

Garland said that their brief set will be an acoustic one and include Monkhouse lead guitarist Nathaniel Greer. They will play some originals as well as a Louvin Brothers tune and a John and June Carter Cash duet.

“Mark can sing his booty off, and I think we sing real good together,” she says.

Billy Joe Shaver

Opening act: Amy Garland and Mark Currey

7:30 p.m. Sunday, The Revolution Room, 300 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock Admission: $15, $20 day of show

(501) 823-0090, www.revroom.com

Weekend, Pages 34 on 01/19/2012