But it turned out fine, at least for Billy Joe, who was found not guilty.

I am very sorry about the incident, Billy Joe said following the verdict. Hopefully, things will work out where we become friends enough so that he gives me back my bullet.

When I met Billy Joe following a show sometime after that, I was wearing a Ric Flair T-shirt. Billy Joe took a look at it, grinned and said, Whooo! in a pretty good Ric Flair imitation. I Whoooed! right back and we had pleasant conversation. I did not stir my drink with a hunting knife.

Lets get back to that parking lot in the early '90s, the first time I saw him:

He sang about going to Georgia on a fast train, being an old chunk of coal, roaming with a wondering gypsy, just about everything I wanted to hear. As that late afternoon show wound down, he stopped, pointed over the heads of the crowd and said, Hey, yall. Turn around and take a look at that. Aint that purty?

The sun was going down behind the buildings in the distance, lighting the sky up orange.

Billy Joe stood there silently, his arms open wide toward the heavens and watched the sun disappear.

Then he grinned, and the honky tonk hero kicked off another song there in the parking lot. It was a good day. Joyful hearts. So long, Billy Joe.

Scott Hollifield is editor of The McDowell News in Marion, and a humor columnist. Contact him at rhollifield@mcdowellnews.com.

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Scott Hollifield: Listening to Billy Joe with a joyful heart - Mooresville Tribune