Martin Wimmer - A Haven For Songs

Conclusion

Townes' song lyrics will endure. Because they are context-free, timeless. Their poetic openness, their suggestive impact, their existential relentlessness will grip people. In Townes' songs, they will find words for their own sadness, loneliness, for their longing. Someone will play or read "Be Here To Love Me" to someone, and they will understand.

Townes Van Zandt: An annotated discography

*****

Live At The Old Quarter

The double album is the essence of his work. Live, just one man, his guitar, songs. With the characteristic interplay between cannily performed stories and the sad songs. All the important hits of the great creative period on it, plus clarifying cover versions. If only one record, then this one.

Flyin' Shoes / At My Window

The middle phase. His best studio albums. Perfect balance of an artist at the zenith of his creativity, great songs, musicians who love to play, rich production.

****

Our Mother The Mountain / Townes Van Zandt / Delta Momma Blues

The classic trio. Incredible depth in the songs. Great art. In effect often more Leonhard Cohen than Willie Nelson, more Phil Spector than Spartan folk, slow, indulgent.

No Deeper Blue

Return to absolute top form in songwriting. A hymn to love, wonderful songs for his children, dark hell trips, surrealistic puns. Very well produced, but thereby also sometimes seems as if Townes was only a guest on his own record.

The Nashville Sessions

The album for the country fans. Fun arrangements, country, bluegrass, miles away from the solo live recordings or the wall of sound of the early albums.

Roadsongs

Excellent live album with cover versions. Rolling Stones, Dylan, Springsteen, Lightnin Hopkins. Although Townes is THE songwriter par excellence, any of the covers here are worthwhile. Hands off the disappointing Vol 2.

***

High, Low And In Between

The most gospel album. The weakest from the early days.

The Late Great

Countryesque album. Higher percentage of covers and mediocre songs. Not his best album, but with his two biggest hits.

Texas Rain

Duet versions with the who's who of the Texas music scene, very tastefully done, but largely superfluous.

Rearview Mirror / Highway Kind / Live And Obscure / Rain On A Conga Drum / A Gentle Evening With

The best among the live albums. Great song selection, good recording quality, partly warmly orchestrated with flute, and finally Townes' stories between the songs make these albums a good complement to the studio albums.

**

A Far Cry From Dead / Sky Blue

Bad exploitation albums. The first retroactively recorded rock accompaniment to Townes' vocals. Undifferentiated studio music, howling guitars. Hands off. The second featured unreleased recordings that no one had a chance to hear for decades, and rightly so.

Acoustic Blue / Abnormal / In Pain / Live At McCabe's / Absolutely Nothing / Live At The Jester Lounge / Live At Union Chapel / A Private Concert / Live At The Whole Coffee House / Rear View Mirror Vol 2 / Documentary / Down Home / Down Home & Abroad

A larger number of live albums. Some bad, wrong song selection, irrelevant recording that no one needs, some at least offer more or less interesting recordings of otherwise not so available songs or good stories between the songs.

For The Sake Of The Song (aka First Album) / In The Beginning / Sunshine Boy

The debut album drowned some of the timeless song lyrics in overproduction. Most importantly, side B of the album also falls way short in songwriting. The second is a completely unnecessary look at the early years. Don't buy. The third, a collection of demos, is only interesting for real hardcore fans who already have everything and want to gain another perspective in the form of alternative versions.

The tribute albums

Five tribute albums by solo performers of Townes material are recommended:

Jonell Mosser, "Around Townes," because it was the first such project.

Richard Dobson, Townes' friend from Texas who lived in Switzerland for a long time, has come up with a great album with "Amigos" that makes the songs his own in clean country language.

British songwriter Jinder released "Brother Flower. The Songs Of Townes Van Zandt" an excellent album of quiet, thoughtful versions.

Above all, though, Steve Earle, "Townes" is recommended because it's consistently listenable. Steve named his son Justin Townes, so there's heart and soul in it. Steve Earle won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album for "Townes". It contains exclusively cover versions of Townes Van Zandt, in the double vinyl one LP with band, one solo. Earle obviously knows what he owes to the old master. It's not just the songwriting and life schools Earle went through with Townes, not just the circles opened up by being so close to the old hero. I think, above all, Earle's "coffee table" saying contributed more to his own fame than to Townes'.

Paul Flaata from Norway, former singer of Midnight Choir, could convince on "Come Tomorrow. Songs Of Townes Van Zandt" in 2016 with his deep voice and dark arrangements.

Jon Hogan did a fantastic job on "Every Now And Then: Songs Of Townes Van Zandt & Blaze Foley", a tribute to both Townes and his friend Blaze.

Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza has released an album in which he has adapted fragments of poems from the estate of Townes Van Zandt into his own songs. To say it in advance: a cruelly failed experiment. With all sympathy for Broza - even for collectors, experts and freaks: you don't have to listen to "Night Dawn - The Unpublished Poetry Of Townes Van Zandt". The album has no humor, nor does it have sadness. Too much mediocre craftsmanship. Screwed up.

Of the Various Artists tribute albums with Townes cover versions, on the other hand, only a few are recommendable:

"Poet" because it features inoffensive yet sympathetic versions of Townes pals.

"Introducing Townes Van Zandt Via The Great Unknown" because it features well-considered, well-produced alternative indie versions of the songs that add depth to the originals.

The sequel "More Townes Van Zandt By The Great Unknown" already recycles only more leftovers. Not good.

"There's A Hole In Heaven Where Some Sin Slips Through", on the other hand, is crap because it contains sloppy, meaningless versions that strip the songs of their core.

Similar goes for "Riding The Range - The Songs Of Townes Van Zandt", a bit better, but not a must-have in the closet.

The promising project "Songs Of Townes Van Zandt" by June Neurot Recordings, in which singers of metal bands are supposed to breathe new life into the songs, failed in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 because of despondency.

Lovely local projects, on the other hand, are "Days Full Of Rain. A Portland Tribute to Townes Van Zandt" and "Lowlands and Friends Play Townes Van Zandt's Last Set." The latter is a live album in which musicians from Italy with some guests reenacted Townes' last concert in 2016.

From there also comes as the last relevant project so far, the brilliant double album "When The Winds Blows - The Songs Of Townes Van Zandt", with partly Texan star cast. Contemporary and tasteful. Highly recommended!

Book recommendations

1 To Live’s To Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt by John Kruth, was released in 2007.

2 In 2008, the University of North Texas Press published Robert Earl Hardy’s A Deeper Blue: The Life and Music of Townes Van Zandt.

3 I’ll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt by Brian T. Atkinson was released in 2012.

4 My Years with Townes Van Zandt (2018) by his road manager Harold F. Eggers tells larger-than-life stories from the road in close-ups.

5 Another Mickey. Ruminations Of A Texas Guitar Slinger (2021) is a well-written memoir by Mickey White, Townes' long-time collaborator. Up close and personal.