I’m a fan of a lot of different music. I don’t particularly like country, or hip-hop, or sugary pop stuff, but I appreciate and acknowledge talent when I hear it.
I had never heard of Townes Van Zandt until tonight. I was watching a Canadian TV interview with Steve Earl (whose music I admire) and found out Steve has just released a new album consisting of original Townes Van Zandt songs.
I must say, that my initial Youtube and Wikipedia research on this guy has left me wondering why in the hell I’ve never heard of him before. He’s a singer/songwriter in the same league as Dylan ferchristsakes! I realize he’s better known as a writer than a performer, but he sure sounds good on Youtube.
It’s weird - I love both Steve Earle and Townes van Zandt, but I don’t like Earle’s covers of van Zandt’s songs. Something about his voice strikes me as too rough or imprecise for the music. Justin Townes Earle (Steve’s son) does some nice covers of van Zandt songs too.
Townes’ cover of “Dead Flowers” is surely the only time someone’s covered the Stones (just about my favorite band, thank you) – and made it a far greater song.
(You can hear it quietly in the background in the “funeral parlor” scene in Big Lebowski – how I found him, I think)
Townes Van Zandt was an institution here in Austin. I can attest that he was both extremely talented AND his own worst enemy.
He could make phenomenal music, and then just when it seemed he was about to make a big breakthrough or get signed to a big record deal, he’d go on a months-long drinking and drug spree, and blow it.
Or, he’d give some electrifying live performances, the kind that would start to draw him a larger crowd… and then he’d alienate the crowd by either giving lackluster performances or by showing up drunk and not even remembering the lyrics to his own songs.
It’s easy to understand why people loved him, but also easy to see why so many record companies and fans ultimately decided he was unreliable and more trouble than he was worth.
Start with the 4CD box set Texas Troubadour, issued by Charly in 2005. This gives you four of Townes’ original albums (For The Sake of the Song, High Low & Inbetween, Townes van Zandt and Flyin’ Shoes) in a handy and affordable package.
Then add the remaining studio offerings - At My Window, The Nashville Sessions and (if you can find it) No Deeper Blue.
For concert stuff, I’d suggest Live At The Old Quarter and Live At Union Chapel, both of which are double CDs, and both of which are guaranteed to make you wish you’d been at the gigs involved. Roadsongs, a live album of the other writers’ songs Townes used to cover in concert, is worth having too.
Beyond that, it’s a real mixed bag, so tread with caution.
There are quite a few artists like Townes – and a lot of them are from Texas – who were a little too smart for 70s/80s country but too country to be folkies. Guy Clark is another one.
And I’ve said it here before, but Marie is maybe the most depressing song ever written.
Check out “Be Here to Love Me”, a documentary about Townes. You can get it on Netflix. It is terrific. Lot’s of great footage, interviews, etc. And Leffan, welcome to the club!
Glad you found Townes; he’s one of my absolute favorite artists. Agree that he’s on the same level of greatness as Dylan as a singer-songwriter, but way more poignant and mournful, rooted in Southern tradition. Live at The Old Quarter is a great record to start with.
I pre-ordered the Steve Earle tribute album, and, at first was somewhat disappointed, as Earle’s versions lack Townes’ cut-through-your-heart purity, a bit harder. But, with listening, it’s grown on me, and think it a wonderful tribute by a like-minded artist. Hearing that you came to hear about Van Zandt through that album, Leaffan,
makes me realize the real worth of it to new ears.
Other Texas artists influenced by Townes that you might like, who cover his songs, are Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, and Joe Ely, who also perform together as The Flatlanders. They’re all great singer/songwriters, with intelligent lyrics and great musicianship.
Townes will make your heart ache listening, in a sad and pure way. I remember when living in Mississippi, and feeling youthful angst, sometimes I would just take off and head to the Delta, to look at the Big River at sunset, listening to cassette tapes of Townes. His music always, in it’s lonesome wail, helped cut through my heart.
To Live Is To Fly is one of the most beautiful songs ever sung on up .
Gotta add this observation in thinkin about it abit: Townes’ songs are so crafted that they stick well in your mind, and are immensely satisfying to sing, even if you aren’t an avid singer.The songs really sing themselves through you. That is really exeptional for my song collecting mind.
Oh Yeah!! Also, I do recommend, as someone previously posted, Justin Townes Earle–especially his first album. The second one isn’t as good-IMHO. Glad you’ve found Townes!
I’m a native Houstonian. In the mid-60s, there was a place on Richmond called Sand Mountain Coffeehouse. They had a small stage and on some nights, they had open-mike. That was my first exposure to public performance, at the age of 16.
One night, this scraggly looking guy got up there and played for about a half hour. No one really paid much attention to him at the start, but at the end, we were applauding and beating on the tables. After he got off the stage, he wound up with a group of us jamming in the back room for a little while. Dude was talented and funny as hell. Yep. It was Townes.
This jibes with the interview I heard some time ago on Public Radio. Perhaps it was with Earl. The guy was a friend of Van Zandt’s and talked quite a bit about his reluctance with fame and fortune. Perhaps he had a fear of the limelight and a self-destructive nature that wouldn’t allow him to be famous. Interesting character.
