If You Don't Know About Townes Van Zandt, Now's The Time!
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Artist:
One of the great songwriters of all time is the late Townes Van Zandt. He's been covered by such legends as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and continues to be an influence on artists ranging from Jolie Holland and Red House Painters/ Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek to Deadboy and the Elephantmen leader Dax Riggs. Steve Earle once said of him, "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."
The late great Townes Van Zandt.I was lucky enough to interview Townes in the late '70s, when he performed at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Before his set, I spoke with him in one of the basement dressing rooms. He was low-keyed and soft-spoken. Emmylou Harris had covered one of his songs, "Pancho and Lefty" on her 1977 album, Luxury Liner, and it had brought him more attention than any of his own recordings. In fact, the reason I knew about him was because I'd dug the Emmylou's recording, and when a publicist called me up to see if I'd write about Townes for a local alternative weekly, he sold me on the angle of Harris drawing attention to Townes. Townes had that southern gothic stranger thing going. He was tall and skinny. Life had not treated him well, and you could see that in his weathered face. We talked for close to an hour, about music, about Emmylou Harris bringing him some attention, about songwriting, about how he felt about being called one of the great songwriters. He said mostly modest things about himself and the success he was having. I can't remember any of that. But I do remember one thing he said. I've thought about it again and again.We were talking about life, and at one point he said something to the effect of, "You look into the void - and all you see is the void." What he was saying was that, as Tom Waits later sang, "God is on vacation." Permanent vacation. You look at the chaos and madness that is this world, and you hope and pray that someone is there to make sense of it all. But they're not. All you see is a black hole. The void.He died of a heart attack in 1997.You should go get all of his albums and listen to them night and day. But meanwhile, you can listen to an awesome cover of "Buckskin Stallion Blues" by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Mudhoney. And how cool is that!http://www.townesvanzandt.com/multimedia/5-Mudhoney%26JimmieDaleGilmore-BuckskinStallionBlues.mp3
The late great Townes Van Zandt.I was lucky enough to interview Townes in the late '70s, when he performed at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Before his set, I spoke with him in one of the basement dressing rooms. He was low-keyed and soft-spoken. Emmylou Harris had covered one of his songs, "Pancho and Lefty" on her 1977 album, Luxury Liner, and it had brought him more attention than any of his own recordings. In fact, the reason I knew about him was because I'd dug the Emmylou's recording, and when a publicist called me up to see if I'd write about Townes for a local alternative weekly, he sold me on the angle of Harris drawing attention to Townes. Townes had that southern gothic stranger thing going. He was tall and skinny. Life had not treated him well, and you could see that in his weathered face. We talked for close to an hour, about music, about Emmylou Harris bringing him some attention, about songwriting, about how he felt about being called one of the great songwriters. He said mostly modest things about himself and the success he was having. I can't remember any of that. But I do remember one thing he said. I've thought about it again and again.We were talking about life, and at one point he said something to the effect of, "You look into the void - and all you see is the void." What he was saying was that, as Tom Waits later sang, "God is on vacation." Permanent vacation. You look at the chaos and madness that is this world, and you hope and pray that someone is there to make sense of it all. But they're not. All you see is a black hole. The void.He died of a heart attack in 1997.You should go get all of his albums and listen to them night and day. But meanwhile, you can listen to an awesome cover of "Buckskin Stallion Blues" by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Mudhoney. And how cool is that!http://www.townesvanzandt.com/multimedia/5-Mudhoney%26JimmieDaleGilmore-BuckskinStallionBlues.mp3
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