He was a folk musician well schooled in the songbook of murder ballads and hymns – his friend Steve Earle recalls getting good-humouredly heckled by Van Zandt when Earle admitted he didn’t know the traditional ballad The Wabash Cannonball. But early on he fell under the spell of fellow Texan Lightnin’ Hopkins, whose country blues and distinctively rhythmic finger-style picking influence is particularly evident on songs such as Rex’s Blues.
You can’t get much bluer than a Townes Van Zandt song. His first real song is also his bleakest ballad, Waitin’ Around to Die, sung with a high straining whinny and twang: “Lots of booze and lots of ramblin’ / It’s easier than waitin’ around to die,” the refrain of “waitin’ around to die” eerily evolving as the song progresses from imagined possibility to reality. Harris, on her first encounter at Gerde’s, was struck by the “high lonesome sound” in his voice. Like Lightnin’, Van Zandt delivered comic preludes before laying in wrenching melancholic verse; he dealt in contrasts. Around the same time he wrote Waitin’, he was in Dallas learning joke songs for beer-drinking crowds.
Kris Kristofferson described Van Zandt as a “songwriter’s songwriter” – both high praise and an acknowledgment that Van Zandt still had not had his due. Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris all had hits with Van Zandt’s songs. Harris chose what she calls one of her favourite love songs, If I Needed You. Since then, covers of his best-loved songs such as To Live Is to Fly, Tecumseh Valley, Marie, and I’ll Be Here in the Morning, have come from all corners – John Prine, Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffith, his dear friend Guy Clark, Jason Molina, Andrew Bird, and First Aid Kit
"Here is a photo of Townes you won’t see very often. It‘s a candid shot snapped by another great songwriter and wordsmith, Butch Hancock, and this copy given to me by Butch’s sweet wife, one of the times he played at the Redbird. It hangs in my office. It’s fitting that Butch will host this evening’s tribute to Townes Van Zandt ( born tomorrow, on March 7, of 1944 ) at the @longcenter in Austin, TX and I am honored to be among the performers. I’ll be doing one of my favorites, “Waitin’ Around to Die,” which as Townes put it “was the first serious song [he] ever wrote.” It’s a perfect example of the crossroads where folk meets the blues, where a desperado finds desperation. Succinct, merciless.
“One way to measure a songwriter is to look at the singers who sing their songs. Townes has had some of the best- Neil Young, John Prine, Norah Jones, Gillian Welch, Robert Plant, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, and hundreds of others. Another way to measure a songwriter is, are their songs still being sung? Townes’s are. Every night- in small clubs, in lonely bedrooms, and wherever the brokenhearted watch the shadows grow long.”
- Bob Dylan on Townes Van Zandt - from his book “Philosophy of Modern Song”
People posting quite a few affection things about one of Americanas tragic best
March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997
«Once I said that Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world – and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee-table in my cowboy boots and say that. It was for the sticker of a Townes record, I believe At My Window. Did I believe Townes was a better songwriter than Bob? No. Townes said to me, "That was really nice. But I've met Dylan's bodyguards and I don't think that's a good idea". A few years later I toured with Bob and found out he only had one bodyguard and he wasn't that scary. Bob invented this job and he's never had any trouble making people understand how good he is. Townes, on the other hand, shot himself in the foot every chance he got, so he needed the help. Trust me, Bob knew who Townes was. I toured with Bob in 1988, he played Pancho And Lefty one night, just to let me know he'd heard what I said about his coffee-table» – Steve Earle, 2017
«One way to measure a songwriter is to look at the singers who sing their songs. Townes Van Zandt has had some of the best – Neil Young, John Prine, Norah Jones, Gillian Welch, Robert Plant, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris and hundred of others. Another way to measure a songwriter is – are their songs still being sung? Townes's are. Every night – in small clubs, in lonely bedrooms and wherever the brokenhearted watch the shadows grown long» – Bob Dylan, 2022
There is something almost unbearably funny about an American covering the Stones’ ‘Dead Flowers’ as it itself is a gentle piss take of the genre of Merkin country songs anyway! Having one of their own, known for his songwriting skills, the genius Van Zandt cover it totally straight faced is a stroke of genius and made me LOL!
Thanks as so often to Alice over at Reds1981 (O My Soul)
I discovered Townes, I am ashamed to say (I guess)through Nanci Griffith's version of this extraordinary song on Other Voices, Other Rooms [1993] and was a fan of Van Zandt from then on . . . . . the version on YouTube of them both singing this is amongst the most haunting there has ever been of this fine fine song . . . . . . . . this is why he is one of the finest Americana songwriters there has ever been IMHO
I need to get on over to the Library Bar and Grill!
It's next door to the Bookstore and the Motel where you can find allsorts, books, second hand vinyl and refreshments and even crash if you need . . . . . . . .
I was nineteen when I came to town, they called it the Summer of Love They were burning babies, burning flags. The hawks against the doves I took a job in the steamie down on Cauldrum Street And I fell in love with a laundry girl who was working next to me
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away She was a lost child, oh she was running wild She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay And you wouldn't want me any other way"
Brown hair zig-zag around her face and a look of half-surprise Like a fox caught in the headlights, there was animal in her eyes She said "Young man, oh can't you see I'm not the factory kind If you don't take me out of here I'll surely lose my mind"
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing So fine that I might crush her where she lay She was a lost child, she was running wild She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay And you wouldn't want me any other way"
We busked around the market towns and picked fruit down in Kent And we could tinker lamps and pots and knives wherever we went And I said that we might settle down, get a few acres dug Fire burning in the hearth and babies on the rug She said "Oh man, you foolish man, it surely sounds like hell You might be lord of half the world, you'll not own me as well"
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away She was a lost child, oh she was running wild She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay And you wouldn't want me any other way"
We was camping down the Gower one time, the work was pretty good She thought we shouldn't wait for the frost and I thought maybe we should We was drinking more in those days and tempers reached a pitch And like a fool I let her run with the rambling itch
Oh the last I heard she's sleeping rough back on the Derby beat White Horse in her hip pocket and a wolfhound at her feet And they say she even married once, a man named Romany Brown But even a gypsy caravan was too much settling down And they say her flower is faded now, hard weather and hard booze But maybe that's just the price you pay for the chains you refuse
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
And I miss her more than ever words could say
If I could just taste all of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Well I wouldn't want her any other way
Songwriters: Richard Thompson
One of the finest songs ever written . . . . IMO
Townes Van Zandt - Tower Song (for my friend Phil) another fine fine song written by a master) Live version
UPDATE: Oh and there's more . . . . .
with a Taj compilation 'Blue Light Blues' pre-90s selection par excellence with master tracks on it and one of the most breathtaking harmonica solos I have ever heard not from Taj but the extraordinarily gifted John Popper on She Caught the Katy ( a Taj Mahal penned song and there was me thinking it was a blues standard!!)
Awesome dollar a piece bargain buckets abounding!
Taj Mahal and Mississippi Fred McDowell
Taj Mahal - She Caught The Katy live (with band)
and also Jobe found in the bargain bins Pinetop Perkins, Phil Ochs, Traffic's John Barleycorn, Big Bopper, even Prince's Sign of The Times! go on over you know you want to and take something outta the library!
More real Country Music . . . . . . . .now this is what I mean. The legendary tragic figure of Townes Van Zandt is an American poet of great note and of whom Steve Earle (another favourite) said
"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that."
Pretty sure Bob felt much the same!
Townes Van Zandt died 24 years ago, on January 1, 1997 and this fine album dates from ten years earlier when he was settled with his third wife and their newborn son Will. You can hear his voice changing and it is not a perfect album by any means but the songwriting alone redeems it. His alcoholism presumably interrupted here while living the good life with wife and child but in ten years time he was dead from the effects of alcoholism and drug abuse. He was 52
Steve and Townes
Still the haunting sorrow of his voice, cracking at times, wavering on occasion seeps through these tales from Americana as only Van Zandt could express. Earle himself no stranger to the difficulties of substance abuse, misuse and otherwise at least he seems to have rescued himself from a similar fate. Now these album are both still commercially available (certainly here in the UK and while the solo album is down low in numbers Amazon claims they have more on order as opposed to approaching being out of print. 'Poet' the tribute seems to be readily available so if anyone wants me to take these down please just ask. I would encourage you to buy both and have provided links to UK Amazon to do just that. Both are well worth having.
What happens when a great poet dies is folks gather and celebrate their work and some folks admire the choice of contributors and others find fault in the selection. I defy you to make that judgemnt here as 'Poet' a tribute from all the greats of new country music join forces to sing the works of the great writer singer songster. Containing 16 cuts by a stellar cast that includes everyone from Willie Nelson and Nanci Griffith to Lucinda Williams and John Prine with lots of folks in between.
With Nanci Griffith singing her version of Townes' Tecumseh Valley which is how I first came across his work and am so pleased they did. We miss them both . . . . . .
Speaking of Pancho and Lefty (see Emmylou Harris ) yesterday saw also the birthday of legendary US folksinger Townes Van Zandt about whom . . . . . . a reckless drunk and a hopeless idealist, but he was also the best Texas songwriter of our time. Just ask Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith . . . . .
I found this
Remembering the folk singer, songwriter, performer and poet Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997).
Steve Earle described him as the greatest songwriter who ever lived, and his influence was felt by many other artists, including Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, and Lyle Lovett. Bob Dylan refers to this Texas native as his favorite songwriter. He wrote hundreds of haunting songs that have been widely recorded, perhaps most notably “Pancho and Lefty” which was a number one hit for Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard in 1983.
Since his death, Van Zandt’s legend has grown exponentially. With two biographies and a documentary released in the last decade, his legend will continue to grow as new generations have access to his music — because more than a handful of Townes’s songs are incontestably great.
"In America when I play, I’m a folksinger — just me and my guitar. And when they’re recorded in America they’re usually recorded country, like Willie and Emmylou. In Europe they’re usually rock. They’re turned into rock or grunge. But they don’t fit into a category. I don’t write for anyone. It’s between me and the spirits. And the people on Earth. Every recording ever of mine, a cover, I’ve loved. Well, a person or a band, whatever they may be, takes a song of mine, learns it and does it their way: I mean you can’t fault that. There’s Eskimos around the campfire in Alaska passing around the guitar and maybe one of them will play “Pancho and Lefty” or something, and that’s what I’m supposed to be doing."
*Townes Van Zandt[1] (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997)
His musical style has often been described as melancholy and features rich, poetic lyrics. For much of the 1970s, he lived in a simple shack without electricity or a telephone.He suffered from a series of drug addictions and alcoholism, and was given a psychiatric diagnosis of bipolar disorder. When he was young, the now-discredited insulin shock therapy erased much of his long-term memory.[Townes Van Zandt.com]
Van Zandt died on New Year's Day 1997 from cardiac arrythmia caused by health problems stemming from years of substance abuse.
