Townes Van Zandt - Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel

[Mike Boom]

I heard this song for the first time today and it completely blew me away. Genius. I have heard other stuff by him that never really connected with me but this hit home straight away. Anyone care to point me in the direction of more of his stuff like this ?

[Magilla]

Mr Boom, you are in for a very, very delightful treat, for you are about to discover the songs of one of the finest singer-songwriters of the past 40 years.

In terms of albums, he was one of those artists that never made a patchy album, let alone a bad one. His run of albums from the late '60s to the late'70s is superb. His debut album For The Sake Of The Song features Townes plus very strong, in-form backing band. The subsequent albums were sparser in general.

I've got For The Sake Of The Song (1968), Our Mother The Mountain (1969), Townes Van Zandt (1970), Delta Momma Blues (1971), High, Low And Inbetween (1972), The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (1972), Flyin' Shoes (1978) and Live Songs From 1973 all on the Texas Troubador box-set.
Each is a delight to listen to.

Apart from that, steer clear of semi-legit, poor quality live albums on dodgy labels (the live albums on reputable labels are ok, however). Live At The Old Quarter (re-issued on Charly, 1999) is a good example of a legit, good quality live album.

[Geezee]

Give me a couple of hours and i'll send ya in the right direction!!

[Geezee]

So here goes...I've tried to go through his whole career, although i've not included many of the posthumously released albums that have tainted his discography (there are still legal problems that are rumbling). I have no clue where best to start - but perhaps one that I don't include below - the Be Here To Love Me documentary (my avatar is from the front cover of that) - is the best place because it also includes the background to his life. For me though, I fell in love with the music first with little idea of who the guy was - so I think it really works both ways. Incidentally, how did you come across Fare thee Well (it's not one of his more well-known ones)?




* In the Beginning - 2003 (recordings from 1966)

This isn’t his first album per se, but a collection of his first recordings released posthumously. There are a few things that stand out – firstly, the songs are not hugely representative of what would later come, not because they lack quality, but rather they are just in a very different style. These were made while still at university where he was hanging out a lot with 13th Floor Elevators (or, more accurately, they were hanging out with him), and some of the songs here demonstrate some pretty cool acid rock. Black Widow Blues is the best of these – an excellent rocker, and you’d never guess it was Townes.



# Live at the Jester Lounge, Houston, Texas, 1966

Recently released, the first live material of Townes, when he was playing around coffee houses in Denver as a student. No essential material here, essentially a bunch of Hank Williams / Lightnin’ Hopkins covers mixed with some of Townes’ “talking blues” songs (humerous comedy songs of sometimes perhaps dubious taste) – it’s interesting that such an early document of Townes exists though, and the fact that he is catering to the beer crowds here really contrasts with the seriousness of his later material.



* For the Sake of the Song - 1968

His first album sets the early standard – extraordinary songwriting, marred unfortunately by terrible production from Jack Clement, who admitted he had no clue how to treat this music…was it folk? was it country? was it rock? Townes’ own ambivalence to the recording process would also plague him for much of his life – many of his songs and albums are poorly handled in the studio. But some of the songs on this set – For the Sake of the Song, Waitin’ Around to Die, I’ll Be There in the Morning, Tecumseh Valley and Many a Fine Lady – would become staples of his live set for the next 30 years. And it’s hard to argue with the songcraft that goes into those songs – beautifully constructed music and focused, stunning lyrics. For me, although ostensibly a love song, I’ll Be Here in the Morning remains his most bitter song – “Close your eyes I’ll be here in the morning / Close your eyes I’ll be here for a while”. At the time he was struggling with the concept of being a folk musician versus being a family man, and shortly after this album was released he would abandon his family and become one of the most restlessly travelling folksmen around. Still, I would avoid this album – definitive versions of these songs can be found elsewhere.



* Our Mother the Mountain – 1969

Recorded very shortly after the first album, this displays the flurry of song-writing activity that he was going through right from the beginning – again most of these songs have become staples, covered endlessly by other artists (there are around 5,000 cover versions of his songs). Although it again suffers from some of the production problems of the first, it is not nearly as bad as that, and this really is his first proper masterpiece. Speak to the people dominating the scene at the time – Joe Ely, Jerry Jeff, Guy Clark etc – and you’ll get a sense of truly what a shock it was to hear one of their own producing material like this. Just listen to the lyrics of something like the title track, and you can tell why – nothing like this had ever come out of the country scene. Kathleen “Plain to see the sun won’t shine today – I ain’t in the mood for sunshine anyway”, Second Lovers Song, Snake Mountain Blues, My Proud Mountains, Be Here to Love Me…the standard here is extraordinary. But the heart of the album is St John the Gambler, which in my mind is the counterpoint to I’ll Be Here in the Morning – he’s basically saying goodbye to the world of privilege that he grew up in, his mind broken by mental illness and his heart overwhelmed by a need to travel.



* Townes Van Zandt - 1969

Recognising that he fucked up the first album, the third one is essentially a rerecording of the first (4 songs appear on both). Here, Kevin Eggers, who would for better or worse become his champion and partner for the next 20 years, allows much sparser arrangements and production, and the songs get to breathe a bit more. Importantly, Townes’ voice is allowed to shine through more- it’s not one of the great voices, but he has an extraordinary ability to enunciate his lyrics beautifully…and this was not evident at all on the first album. Fare Thee Well, a clear Dylan-inspired number, makes its appearance here, as does “the scariest song ever written” according to Steve Earle – Lungs. Another personal favourite of mine, None But the Rain, beautifully covered by Robin and Linda Williams, appears here. Also note the cover by none other than Milton Glazer, who had an association with Tomato/Poppy Records and did most of Townes’ fantastically evocative album covers.



A Gentle Evening with Townes Van Zandt - 2002 (recorded November 1969)

Another extraordinary live document that was suddenly discovered a few years ago and was met with surprise in pretty much every quarter: “Townes played at Carnagie Hall!?” And indeed he did, an evening organised by his record label. The difference from Jester Lounge material is nothing short of revelatory – he is in full swing here, and for example gives an early airing of Rake, a devastating song about his mental illness which would not be recorded for another couple of years. His daring humour is on display here – in front of a polite crowd he kicks off by announcing “I’m gonna start with a talking blues song about the KKK…I was going to do one about thunderbird wine but I figured there’d be more bigots here than winos – nah I’m just kidding…some of my best friends are…”



* Delta Momma Blues – 1971

Having broken all ties with his family, including his wife and son, Townes essentially embarks on a life of wild binging and drug abuse. He is barely keeping things together here, mixing more rocking blues like FFV and Delta Momma Blues, Where I Lead Me, Turnstyled/Junkpiled with devastating ballads – Rake, Nothin’ and Tower Song. Another classic album, it essentially reinforces his view that he is past the point of no return, and almost certainly heading for an early death. Rake essentially documents the why - his personality split between night and day under the dark conscience of regret over “covering my lovers with flowers and wounds” – and Nothin’ is pretty much his goodbye note to the world. The production here, for once, is pretty good, particularly on Rake – and it is notable that his three “perfect” songs, Rake, Snow Don’t Fall and St. John the Gambler, were rarely if ever performed live whereas he would perform most his relatively small output time and time again…but these ones he got them right in the studio.



* High, Low and in Between – 1972

…and suddenly we turn to gospel! Two Hands is a very surprising start to this, and it’s as if he’s just saying: “I’ve survived! – never thought I would, but somehow I did” – and at one point he had actually died momentarily from an overdose but was brought out of it. In my mind, the world was essentially saying “we’re not done with you yet – you still have a few classic songs that you are meant to write”. One of those was Mr Mudd & Mr Gold, which again reverberated across the country folk community who were awed at this brainstorm of a song. There is also some gloriously stoned material here – notably Standin’ – as well as another standard – To Live Is To Fly, which Guy Clark still plays pretty much every time I’ve seen him (and the title adorns Townes’ tombstone). But the blues is not far away – Highway Kind reminds you that this guy is still desperately searching for something to hold onto, and it’s almost tinged with regret that he’s still around. Note the title track - beautiful little melody, used to great effect at the end of the Be HEre to Love Me docu.



* The Late Great Townes Van Zandt – 1972

His “best-selling” album (ha!) – and right now he was on a roll. He’s writing with a confidence that almost comes across as arrogance, and he decides to fill this album with a few cover songs…this only serves to highlight how fantastic his original material is on this album. Two of these songs would essentially mark the rest of his career – If I Needed You and Pancho & Lefty – and cover versions of these by Emmylou Harris, Doc Watson, Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard and various others would keep Townes going financially. It’s a weirdly sequenced album, and sometimes the production again gets in the way as they seek to fulfil Townes’ commercial potential, but again this is one of his masterpieces. Snow Don’t Fall was his own personal favourite of all the material he ever wrote, and it was a last minute add-on, written as a tribute to his girlfriend who was murdered while hitchhiking to join him in the recording studio for this album.



The Nashville Sessions - 1993 (recordings from the aborted Seven Come Eleven album, recorded 1972)

What happens next is perhaps key to the Townes legend…just as he was about to hit the big time, he loses it: “fame and fortune just laugh at me then silence once again”, he would later remark in The Hole. Seven Come Eleven was meant to be his commercial breakthrough, but inexplicably Kevin Eggers had a “bad feeling” about the album and cancelled it. It’s hard to explain this in any other way than that he was afraid that he would “lose” Townes. At the same time, of course, Townes allowed this to happen, and he didn’t seem to care much. Eventually, 20 years later, an album of these sessions appeared, and it’s hard not to think of what could have been – White Freight Liner had huge crossover potential, and songs like Rex’s Blues, Snake Song and No Place to Fall are among the strongest he ever wrote…the former a perfectly, almost magically circular melody and lyric that he was so good at producing.



Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas - 1977 (recorded July 1973)

…and here comes what is generally considered Townes’ best – a live document that shows him right in his prime. Again this was meant to be released alongside Seven Come Eleven, but was withheld for 4 years thus killing the momentum that had been built between 1969-1973. This covers the very best material of his albums to date, and shorn of the production that often interfered with his albums you get an understanding of just how perfect some of these songs are. And most importantly this album gives a glimpse of his legendary ability to captivate a live audience through his mix of devastating songs followed by humerous anecdotes/jokes. Notwithstanding the searing Texas heat that apparently permeated the venue (the airconditioner broke), there’s a pace to this live album that is missing from a lot of his other live ones, and he generally avoids his “slit wrist” material.



* Flyin' Shoes – 1978

So, Townes embarks on his 4-year lost weekend…he lives in near poverty for a period (witness Heartworn Highways) with no fixed address, before disappearing into the wilderness with a new (underage) wife, scraping a living off the earnings from Pancho Lefty/If I Needed You. He returns with a blues record that again reinforces his extraordinary talent, but it is clear that his muse is leaving him – his new material is drying up, and a lot of this material is from the aborted Nashville Sessions. Still, this is the last of his truly classic albums – the Seven Come Eleven material is of course great, and it’s filled out with other songs that would become classics in the hands of other artists, notably Loretta and the title track. Flyin’ Shoes again highlights his yearning for travel, and not long after this he abandons his second wife and starts a new life.



Rear View Mirror - 1993 (recorded live Oklahoma, 1979)

The new life, of course, is not what it was meant to be – just as he was meant to embark on his first major international tour, he again fucks himself up – in a car accident he breaks his arm, and he was never the same guitarist after that. Keep in mind that until then he was one of the best pickers in the business, a very underrated part of his talent. Tour gets cancelled, and again any chance of commercial success is thrown out the window. However, this is a beautiful document, and it’s the one that introduced me to Townes so it holds a very special place in my heart. He was backed with a fantastic set of musicians, particularly Mickey White, a great guitarist who feeds off of him. Although it’s a bit more dislocated than Old Quarter, this to me is the perfect live document of Townes because it has a stronger range of material and overall better performances…notably the beautiful version of Our Mother the Mountain.



* At My Window – 1987

For all intents and purposes, Townes retires and settles into a new married life, raising a family and dealing with his deeply engrained alcoholism. Still touring, but his voice is shot, his guitar-playing is reduced to basic strumming, and he is not producing new records. Of course, the 80s were the death of a lot of his contemporaries creatively speaking, and at least he did not produce some terrible 80s country that could have killed his legacy. Instead he showed up towards the end of the decade with a “new” album that revisited some of his older material (including For the Sake of the Song) but mixed in with a sprinkling of very nice songs like Snowin’ on Raton, Ain’t Leaving Your Love and Still Lookin’ For You. Also from the period worth noting is the “Live and Obscure” album – a collection of live songs from around 1985 – very dynamic and very good performances, the third best live album of Townes.



* No Deeper Blue – 1994

His last record, it focuses on the blues and (perhaps morbidly) includes what was meant as a suicide note – A Song For – and a song that reads even more like a suicide note – The Hole. It also includes two tributes to his fallen comrade Blaze Foley – Blaze’s Blues and Marie. At this stage Townes was enjoying a small revival – Mudhoney, Cowboy Junkies and Tindersticks were recording his material alongside regular plugs from Lyle Lovett and Guy Clark. He went on a tour with Cowboy Junkies and wrote a song for them, one of the very last he wrote. A later compilation of covers is called Songs Torn From the Flesh based on one of his lyrics, and this is a fairly accurate description of this particular album actually - again, it's as if the world demanded one final set of songs from his body, particularly Marie, Hole and A Song For, before it felt as if they were done with him and spat him out, allowing him to finally wimper to a death in 1997.

[Mike Boom]

Awesome, thanks so much for this, invaluable info.

Incidentally, how did you come across Fare thee Well (it's not one of his more well-known ones)?

Would you believe on the radio of all places!
I was actually stuck in traffic on the I35 on the way to work, we've had a ton of rain and flooding here due to the remnants of Hurricane Hermine , and the access road was washed out, so I was sitting in the car listening to a new FM radio station here from KERA, which is a non-profit public media station in North Texas, and they played this song, and I was gobsmacked. So - as I said, I have heard some of his stuff before, but nothing stuck, perhaps I wasn't listening properly or something, who knows - but armed with your great posts I shall go forth, starting I think with this
and I will have to get that documentary too, which I'd also heard about before and have been meaning to see.

Thanks again gents.

[Geezee]

Awesome, thanks so much for this, invaluable info.

Incidentally, how did you come across Fare thee Well (it's not one of his more well-known ones)?

Would you believe on the radio of all places!
I was actually stuck in traffic on the I35 on the way to work, we've had a ton of rain and flooding here due to the remnants of Hurricane Hermine , and the access road was washed out, so I was sitting in the car listening to a new FM radio station here from KERA, which is a non-profit public media station in North Texas, and they played this song, and I was gobsmacked. So - as I said, I have heard some of his stuff before, but nothing stuck, perhaps I wasn't listening properly or something, who knows - but armed with your great posts I shall go forth, starting I think with this
and I will have to get that documentary too, which I'd also heard about before and have been meaning to see.

Thanks again gents.

Great - get it on vinyl if you can, Townes is one of those artists where that can make quite a difference, you get a deeper sense of the warmth of his vocal delivery.

I can talk for hours about this by the way...

[Six String]

Be Here To Love Me, the docu. is available on Netflix if you have an account. It's well worth seeing although I didn't feel a need to own it. There isn't enough peformance video for me to want to keep it but his life story is interesting if not sad.

Nice write up on his albums btw. The Old Quarter album was my first purchase, an original pressing on vinyl and it's still my favorite album over all but I don't have The Late Great Townes Van Zandt so I wouldn't know if his most popular album is the best or not. Still, Old Quarter is a very good sampler of his music and since it's just him and his guitar there are no production values to get in the way.

[Guy E]

Great write-up G-Z!

The whole 7 Comes 11 chapter is strange. I actually wrote a letter to MOJO many years ago asking about the album in that "Questions" column of theirs. When a 'Townes" feature appeared a couple years later the "lost album" wasn't even addressed. The original Nashville Sessions CD sounds like it was mastered off a test-pressing and it's pretty obvious that this was an earlier and more commercially-oriented recording than the Flyin' Shoes versions.

I guess what nags me is... if 7 Comes 11 had come out, would Townes' prolific songwriting roll have continued with a quick follow-up? Or... was his writing destined to dry-up at about this time anyway? He was cranking-out an album per year up until that time.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

* For the Sake of the Song - 1968

His first album sets the early standard – extraordinary songwriting, marred unfortunately by terrible production from Jack Clement, who admitted he had no clue how to treat this music…was it folk? was it country? was it rock? Townes’ own ambivalence to the recording process would also plague him for much of his life – many of his songs and albums are poorly handled in the studio. But some of the songs on this set – For the Sake of the Song, Waitin’ Around to Die, I’ll Be There in the Morning, Tecumseh Valley and Many a Fine Lady – would become staples of his live set for the next 30 years. And it’s hard to argue with the songcraft that goes into those songs – beautifully constructed music and focused, stunning lyrics. For me, although ostensibly a love song, I’ll Be Here in the Morning remains his most bitter song – “Close your eyes I’ll be here in the morning / Close your eyes I’ll be here for a while”. At the time he was struggling with the concept of being a folk musician versus being a family man, and shortly after this album was released he would abandon his family and become one of the most restlessly travelling folksmen around. Still, I would avoid this album – definitive versions of these songs can be found elsewhere.

I enjoyed your write ups G=Z, but boy...I cannot disagree on this one any more fervently.

I think this remains his best album, and in fact I'd put it among my favorite albums of all time. Despite Clement's misgivings, I think the baroque setting provided Van Zandt with a musical frame that allowed his songs to transcend their country/folk/blues roots. It is a singular album in his canon - not unlike "Pleasures of The Harbor" was for Phil Ochs or Leonard Cohen's debut was for him. Townes would continue to write great songs after, but in my mind he never really made interesting records again. The songs alone would do the heavy lifting on all his subsequent releases. But this one is something special.

[Geezee]

It's interesting you should say that as occasionally I've thought along similar lines, that the famously bad production isn't as bad as its reputation. But Clement himself was terribly embarrassed by his job straight away and encouraged Townes to rerecord it to get the songs right (again, Townes himself didn't really care, and it's doubtful if he even heard his own finished product)...indeed in a later interview Clement cites it as one of his biggest regrets, his one big missed opportunity. and there are undeniably some really odd touches - some big choirs and weirdly chosen instrumentation (Velvet Voices springs to mind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqXHxvOrulg).

I suppose most people find that the production has dated terribly, and also people who have come to Townes from his later recordings don't relate to this kind of production. Personally my main qualm remains with his echoed voice - his voice doesn't suit that kind of treatment, and neither do the songs, i think...the other touches are sometimes quaint, sometimes inapprioriate, but sometimes downright perfect. A good example of the latter is Sixteen Summers, lovely production. Another example is Waitin' Around to Die - it's again slight odd production, but sometimes I wish when artists chose to cover this song (and it's been covered alot!) that they went to the original source here and used that as the inspiration for their version - most just choose to suffocate the song a bit with a simple guitar/vocal performance, this being how Townes would always perform it later on. But generally, I don't agree that the production makes these songs transcend their folk/country/blues roots - Clement is essentially trying to make a country record, and in doing so forgets the folk/blues roots, and it's that in-yer-face 60s country production which occasionally interferes too much with the songs.

Another general qualm that I have with FTSOTS is that I'm not a fan of the title track - in my mind it's quite an arrogant appraisal of a partner (=his first wife) who is apparently to blame for *him* feeling as if he is chained to a relationship. It's the kind of borderline misogynist lyric that someone like nick cave often come up with. And also, although in my mind it sets the tone for Mr. Mudd and Mr Gold, it's hard to justify a song like Talking Karate Blues...and finally, he was also forced to compromise the lyric of Tecumseh Valley (the "she turned to whorin'" verse, which is key to the whole damn song, is entirely removed) - so definitely with a song like that, the definitive version is elsewhere.

If you like that kind of Townes I'd revisit Our Mother the Mountain Davey - it has a similar approach to its production (note the fantastic strings on Kathleen for example). But generally I agree with you - alot of people dismiss Townes' studio albums in favour of his live recordings. I disagree entirely, and like you (I think) I prefer when Townes has musicians around me to lift some of his songs.

[Geezee]

One thing about the Be Here to Love Me DVD - a friend of mine who wanted to explore Townes that I lent it to ended up falling in love with Guy Clark instead...Guy comes across very well in his interview segments. That whole bunch really were a pretty special bunch of characters.

[Guy E]

...alot of people dismiss Townes' studio albums in favour of his live recordings. I disagree entirely, and like you (I think) I prefer when Townes has musicians around me to lift some of his songs.

I'm happy listening to Townes in a stripped-down production setting, but I've always loved the arrangements and production on Flyin' Shoes. It's respectful and carefully-arranged, but never to the point of preciousness. There may have been precedents that I'm forgetting, but I hear that album as something of a template for "sophisticated" modern country and roots rock ensemble-playing... Merle Haggard's If I Could Only Fly, Joe Henry's productions, etc.

[Lemon Yoghourt]

I wanted to bump this thread to read G-Z's post again. I've been listening to quite a lot of Townes recently... the self titled album, Delta Momma Blues and Our Mother The Mountain are my favourties so far. So, thanks for the post, G-Z, its one I'll keep going back to.

For what its worth, and from what I've heard, I agree with your assessment of For The Sake of the Song. Some of the songs were done much better on later albums, particularly Waitin' Around to Die.

[John_K]

Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel is a wonderful track, I used it last month on my Mix Club disc, from memory my recipient needed to give it some more time...

[Geezee]

This is the first new Townes release in recent years that is definitely piquing my interest.

Townes Van Zandt | Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions

http://www.gratefulweb.com/articles/tow ... o-sessions

As musicologist Colin Escott writes in his liner notes for the upcoming Omnivore Recordings release of the late Townes Van Zandt’s Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions and Demos 1971-1972, “The art of Townes Van Zandt reveals a little at a time. Every hearing brings forth something you can’t believe you missed all the other times, or something that rings even truer today than way back when.”

mnivore will give listeners more to discover in Townes Van Zandt when the 28-song, two-CD set is released on February 5, 2013. The recordings that comprise the set have been hidden away in the vault since their initial recording and are now presented with the cooperation of the estate. Due to acquisitions by various labels of the initial Poppy Records recordings, these session recordings have sat on the shelf with no one knowing quite where to find them — until now.

Following ten studio albums, several singles and several live albums, the troubled life of the influential singer-songwriter, performer and poet came to a close on New Years Day 1997.

Omnivore is pleased to finally be able to present, after many years in the works, a two-CD set of previously unavailable music from the Texas singer-songwriter’s classic albums High, Low & In Between andThe Late Great Townes Van Zandt. One disc features outtakes and alternate takes/mixes of tracks from the sessions for those LPs; the other highlights solo demos. The set offers a window into the work that went into those two brilliant recordings, from a time when Van Zandt was at the height of his songwriting powers.

With alternate takes and mixes of songs like “To Live Is To Fly” (presented in both alternate take and demo form) and the classic "Pancho & Lefty" (a mix made alongside the known version, but without the strings and horns of the commercial version), Sunshine Boy is an essential release for all true Townes Van Zandt fans. The quiet and largely solo demo disc provides an intimate portrait of Van Zandt demo-ing songs, some of which would become his best-known compositions.

As Escott explains, “alternate versions add an entirely new dimension, like seeing someone you thought you knew so well in a new light. The new songs are simply good to have when it seemed the barrel was empty. And so here are more than two hours of Townes Van Zandt — music unheard since the engineer peeled off a little splicing tape to seal the box 40 years ago.”

Escott’s comprehensive liner notes, unseen photographs from the era and some entirely unheard songs, make this collection a must-have for fans of one of the best songwriters of his time.

Track listing:

Disc One: Studio Sessions
1. T for Texas
2. Who Do you Love
3. Sunshine Boy
4. Where I Lead Me
5. Blue Ridge Mountains
6. No Deal
7. Pancho & Lefty (Alternate 1972 mix without strings and horns)
8. To Live is to Fly
9. You Are Not Needed Now
10. Don’t Take it Too Bad
11. Sad Cinderella
12. Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold
13. White Freight Liner Blues
14. Two Hands
15. Lungs
16. Dead Flowers

Disc Two: Demos
1. Heavenly Houseboat Blues
2, Diamond Heel Blues
3 To Live is to Fly
4. Tower Song
5. You Are Not Needed Now
6. Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold
7. Highway Kind
8. Greensboro Woman
9. When He Offers His Hand
10. Dead Flowers
11. Old Paint
12. Standin’

[Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman]

Gosh, thanks for bumping this up... I didn't even know that this gem of a thread existed!

It reflects the best of BCB.

And I might become a fan too.

[Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman]

Ah, I see: I missed its inception by a good month.

[lord_of_light88]

Yay for TVZ!

I have all the records from Sake Of The Song to Flyin' Shoes, plus Gentle Evening (the one with the KKK song, hahaha!) and Nashville Sessions. The first one is the one I like the least (even though it features some of his classics) as I prefer the more stripped down sound of the later albums. Our Mother The Mountain is already so much better in comparison, with Be Here To Love Me being one of my favourite tracks of his. I think his eponymous is my favourite overall album, but it's a tough call.

Funny enough, Miss Carousel is my favourite TVZ song! Good catch, Mr. Boom.

Geezee, thanks for that great little write-up on those albums. Some of those I've not heard in quite some time and reading your post has given me the itch to revisit them. Cool beans. Also, I'm happy to see I'm not the only one who thinks TVZ was a great guitarist.

I recommend watching Heartworn Highways for the great TVZ bits, a couple of wonderful performances and some of his humour. You also get a glimpse of the young Guy and Susannah <3

[Guy E]

This is the first new Townes release in recent years that is definitely piquing my interest...

Wow. I know his family has worked hard to extricate Townes' work from Tomato Records control, but I never expected this.

I already have two versions of Pancho & Lefty. The version on my Late Great TVZ Tomato CD is more-or-less acoustic; the version on the Poppy album is produced with the full Mexicali horn section. I wonder if a third version will be included on this new set?

[Geezee]

I already have two versions of Pancho & Lefty. The version on my Late Great TVZ Tomato CD is more-or-less acoustic; the version on the Poppy album is produced with the full Mexicali horn section. I wonder if a third version will be included on this new set?

Now that's interesting - i don't think i was aware of that although I'm going to have to head home and figure this one out. There's a similar issue with Snow Don't Fall, which is one of my favourite Townes tunes, and indeed his own favourite. The version I got accustomed to for many years was from the Late Great (Tomato) record which is a piano-led ballad. In the age of Itunes, however, I noticed an anomaly on this track in the rereleased version of Late Great which was made by Capitol and released as a twofer with High Low and Inbetween - the length of the song was different from the one I knew. And when I sampled it, I was floored by the fact that it's a completely different version - acoustic guitar led with a lovely, mournful string section (though an odd bassline).

I've never understood what lay behind those different versions - and considering that he never touched the song again (as explained above) I was amazed that such a different version existed and essentially "hidden" as part of a simple twofer rerelease of the album - but now i'm wondering if there are more differences between those releases which I hadn't noticed, specifically with Pancho & Lefty in mind.