#498 Townes Van Zandt, 'Pancho and Lefty'

 

I know the Willie Nelson version, but it's been years (decades?) since I've heard it.  Looking forward to the Townes Van Zandt version.   I know of Townes Van Zandt mostly by reputation.  Being from Texas, I'm a little embarrassed that I'm not more familiar with him.  Starting it up...

Oops, I'm listening to a live version (the album is called "Rear View Mirror"), not the one RS listed.  Nice melody, lyrics paint a picture.  The fiddle player deserves a call-out. He played through the whole song, but tastefully, never getting in the way of the song and the vocal.

I feel I should listen to the one RS listed.  It's nice, too, but I think I prefer the live one.  The studio version (from "The Late Great Townes Van Zandt") sounds great.  It has some mariachi horns and strings, tastefully done, but I like the sparse arrangement of the live one.  I miss the fiddle. Just seems more honest, like I'm sitting in the room.  As a good live recording should make one feel.

I seldom listen to music that doesn't have a drum kit. I should probably broaden my scope a little.

Comments

  1. RonDecember 3, 2021 at 9:18 PM

    Townes was Fort Worth's pride and joy. His voice is sometimes astringent, but his songs are poetic and full of excellent imagery. Steve Earle famously proclaimed "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."

    If you ever get the chance to find the DVD or somehow stream this documentary, "Heartworn Highways" is a most wonderful film about Texas & Nashville Outlaw Country in the 70s. It has Townes, his buddy Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, David Allan Coe (!), among others, singing their souls out and talking about their music. The bonus stuff on the DVD is about as cool as the official doc. A young Steve Earle makes an appearance at a wonderfully drunken Christmas reverie and song pull at Guy and Susanna Clark's place along with Crowell and Steve Young. Hell, even John Hiatt shows up in the bonus stuff, and I never considered my Hoosier homeboy exactly country.

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