the short list grows long: townes van zandt

Music March 4th, 2009

Townes Van Zandt! We get older - you, in particular, look old today - and it seems less and less likely that we’ll “discover” a major talent. The basic assumption is that if they were any good, and they already recorded some albums, you’d already know about them. You’re all done, it’s over for you: why bother? There are no letters in the mailbox, there are no grapes upon the vine, there are no chocolates in the boxes anymore, and there are no diamonds in the mine.* We’ll pack you away in styrofoam and haul you out for the holidays.  

Nick Hornby touches on the phenomenon of a later-life discovery (actually in relation to another artist on my short list, Jackson Browne) in Songbook. I’ve also talked about it with a DJ who’s been at it for years and years, digging through albums every day, still finding new, amazing people. There is no shortage of great music. We run out of the time & patience to look for it, and as a friend of mine said recently, distribution right now is broken, but the talent is out there. Stay with it people! Music will save your brain. And your brain, if you haven’t noticed, is in serious trouble. Those “friends” you talk to? They’re chairs. Chairs. 

All of which is to say, if you haven’t heard Townes Van Zandt - I hadn’t four or five years ago - and you have any tolerance for sad bastard music, you’ve got something to hear. Here’s the list I put him in: Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen. Here’s one of his more famous songs -

07-to-live-is-to-fly

- but as with most major artists, it’s the whole Townes VZ deal that’s impressive, not just a song here and there. 

My point? My point is I really should have pitched The Late Great Townes Van Zandt to 33 & 1/3, I realize now. But he’s both country (or folk, or blues - he would probably say blues) and obscure - even allmusic.com, which is otherwise shockingly thorough, doesn’t have an entry for The Late Great. Pitching Townes would have felt something like voting for Nader. 

Anyway: He released The Late Great Townes Van Zandt in 1972, when he was still very much alive. It was the tail end of a six-album burst that started in 1968; thereafter he focussed on his drinking and, uh, paced himself with album releases. I believe album number seven came out in 1978. Late Great has one of his other big songs, Pancho and Lefty, made into a hit by Willie Nelson.

If you do get into him, you should also check out Margaret Brown’s film Be Here to Love Me, which is much more than a Townes doc. There are also a wide range of TVZ live albums out there - Live at the Old Quarter is a good one, and it has one of my favorite jokes: 

1-03-mr-mudd-mr-gold

Next installment: Jackson Browne! And look out for the letter ‘Q’! 

*speaking of late-life discoveries, I was out at the South Congress Cafe and I ran into friends - that’s right, I can work up something resembling a life at times - and my wife mentioned that Leonard Cohen was playing Austin soon. “Leonard Cohen?” replied ALL THREE nameless friends, “who’s Leonard Cohen?” Sweet jumping jesus, what were these people doing in college? Studying? 

2 Responses to “the short list grows long: townes van zandt”

  1. Paul Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    Great post. TVZ is indeed quite sweet. I have been searching for “new” discoveries ever since I was 16 years old. I’m now 42 and I still keep finding them. (I still fondly remember discovering both Cohen and Van Zandt.) I don’t expect to ever run out of new ones, and that’s not even counting the artists whose music will be released in the years to come.

    If you like Townes, check out Bob Martin “Midwest Farm Disaster.” One of my favorite “late-life discoveries” of the past year.

  2. paulosham Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    that list you put Townes in, I hope you know he’s standing on top.

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