OPO Townes van Zandt

it's bad news from houston,
half my friends are dying.

Lyle Lovett does a nice cover of "White Freight Liner."

I'd pick Loretta or Rex's Blues or Sake of the Song or If I had no place to fall.

But maybe I'd just pick the joke about the drunk with his dick hanging out about halfway through "Live at the old quarter"...

but "Two Girls" has his best lyrics.

so why not pick "Pancho and Lefty," which does have a good melody...

the worst kind of sentimentality and stoned "lyricism,"

should critique the way anybody writes. Good thing you never had to write for a living.

but here's one thing that slipped by a drowsy editor, on TVZ.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0616,hurt,72866,22.html

i'd pick Pancho and Lefty, though. great and deserving of the all the praise.

"So I reach for her hand and her eyes turns to poison
And her hair turns to splinters,
And her flesh turns to brine."

His voice sounds so chilling and distant here, as if he's filling his flask with whiskey or wrestling with an angel while he delivers the song by rote.

i love tvz but i have some reservations that keep me from being completely in his camp. sometimes it seems like he's trying to prove his literariness too often, or alternately, trying to be jus'-folks plainspoken. he doesn't often find a middleground that i'm entirely comfortable with.

i really like the title track to "flyin' shoes," i think that one really works.

Respected Mississippi-based independent label Fat Possum, home to artists as diverse as R.L Burnside, Dinosaur Jr and The Fiery Furnaces, have announced a string of reissues from celebrated folk singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt, including his first four albums and the much lauded posthumous Texas Rain collaboration album.

Van Zandt, who died in 1997, is one of America’s most influential musicians, influencing both country and folk artists since the late 1960s. Probably best known for writing “Pancho and Lefty” – a song taken to #1 on the Billboard Charts by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard in 1983 – his catalog is a treasure trove of hauntingly intimate songs.

Fat Possum will re-issue the first four albums For The Sake Of The Song (1968), Our Mother The Moutain (1969), Townes Van Zandt (1970), Delta Moma Blues (1971), plus 1978’s Flyin’ Shoes and the duet collection Texas Rain, which includes Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Doug Sahm and Freddy Fender. All albums, previously released on Tomato Records and out of print for several years, will be available on Fat Possum from May 1st 2007.

Tracklists:

For the Sake of the Song (1968)

For the Sake of the Song
Tecumseh Valley
Many a Fine Lady
Quicksilver Daydreams of Maria
Waitin' Around to Die
I'll Be Here in the Morning
Sad Cinderella
The Velvet Voices
Talkin' Karate Blues
All Your Young Servants
Sixteen Summers, Fifteen Falls

Our Mother the Mountain (1969)
Be Here to Love Me
Kathleen
She Came and She Touched Me
Like a Summer Thursday
Our Mother the Mountain
Second Lovers Song
St. John the Gambler
Tecumseh Valley
Snake Mountain Blues
My Proud Mountains
Why She's Acting This Way

Townes Van Zandt (1969)
For the Sake of the Song
Columbine
Waiting Around to Die
Don't You Take It Too Bad
Colorado Girl
Lungs
I'll Be Here in the Morning
Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel
(Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria
None But the Rain

Delta Momma Blues (1971)
FFV
Delta Momma Blues
Only Him or He
Turnstyled, Junkpiled
Tower Song
Come Tomorrow
Brand New Companion
Where I Lead Me
Rake
Nothin'

Flyin' Shoes (1978)
Loretta
No Place to Fall
Flyin' Shoes
Who Do You Love
When She Don't Need Me
Dollar Bill Blues
Rex's Blues
Pueblo Waltz
Brother Flower
Snake Song

Texas Rain (2001)
If I Needed You
Pancho & Lefty
Waiting Around to Die
Blue Wind Blew
Kathleen
No Lonesome Tune
Brother Flower
Two Girls
Marie
Quicksilver Daydreams of Maria
Snowin' On Raton
At My Window

http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Texas%20Troubadour%20%5BCharly%20UK%20Short%20Box%5D:1922188890

the talking blues cuts on live @ the old quarter are kind of devastating.

^ian otm

But damn if "Lover's Lullaby" isn't the sweetest saddest thing ever.

here he is drunk and kind of fucking it up, depending

i prefer the studio version

Lately liking Snowin' on Raton for the pretty tune, and Snake Mountain Blues for the bile.

I always find that a little Townes goes a long way and prefer cover versions of his songs, especially by Tindersticks and Lyle Lovett, who does several of the ones mentioned above on the wonderful 'Step Inside This House'. That said, I saw him play the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in 92 and it was an absorbing, great show.

fare thee well miss carousel has been slaying me lately.
i love townes unendingly.

"Where I Lead Me" - always thought this would make a good cover for a garage band, The Reigning Sound would do a great version.

honestly, if there's one moment in time that really shows what music means...this clip from heartworn highways...just...kills...me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGKzWDakK8

found a blog on the man in the clip. seymour washington known as "the walking blacksmith"

http://www.dogcanyon.org/2009/09/10/seymour-washington-the-walking-blacksmith/

yow, no love for "tower song" here? that's probably my favorite TVZ tune.

I have watched that Heartworn Highway clip hundreds of times, usually drunk.

to answer OP's question: I've never had a clear TVZ fave. Pressed I will say 'Rex's Blues'

yow, no love for "tower song" here? that's probably my favorite TVZ tune.

― tylerw, Thursday, November 4, 2010 8:45 AM (7 months ago)

yes this^^ it's kindof sinister but mostly pretty

He would've been 80 today, not that it's really possible to imagine him living that long. HBD TVZ.

his version of "who do you love" has become a top 5 TVZ song for me.

Lungs

Lungs occurred to me too ( i just heard it but. Yestday.)

"If I Needed You" or "Poncho & Lefty" or "I'll Be Here in the Morning", and I've always had a soft spot for "Colorado Girl"

i know his discography pretty well, "If I Needed You" is one of the ones i think of a lot, like really a lot. along with "At My Window" and one or two others

i won't wish TVZ a HBD because he's dead.

You are not needed now

aw, happy to be reminded of TVZ, my remark was uncalled for, sorry. tipsy's post just needed more balloons 🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈

It’s a song

Not typical of his style, but maybe "Silver Ships of Andilar".

Waiting around to die. So cold, big punch in the gut from the first line to the last. Love it

So many fantastic songs. Today, maybe Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold.

Queensboro Woman

We all got holes to fill
And them holes is all that’s real.

Also gygax OTM