Waco: Billy Joe Shaver doesn't miss a beat after bad fall

Country songwriting legend Billy Joe Shaver was hospitalized Saturday after taking a bad fall hours before playing a music festival in Long Beach, Calif.

According to Shaver’s guitarist, Jeremy Woodall, they were walking to a restaurant to go eat when Shaver stepped into a hole and his knee went sideways, causing him to fall and his face to hit the ground.

Shaver was rushed to a nearby hospital.

His forehead was split wide-open and his nose was likely broken, Woodall said.

Unbelievably, despite his injuries, after doctors stitched him up, Shaver left the hospital and went straight to the Long Beach Folk Revival Festival to perform.

“Dude’s about as tough as I’ve seen,” Woodall told KWTX. “He’s OK.”

It was falsely reported that Shaver had sustained the injuries by falling off the stage during the performance.

Shaver is swollen, but is now resting, Woodall said Monday.

The infamous singer from Waco, said to have invented outlaw country music, turned 78 in August.

Shaver and the band stayed in California before returning home Monday ahead of a scheduled show in Tomball on Thursday and a show in New York over the weekend.

“He’s tough and we’re back on the road,” said Woodall.