Townes Van Zandt

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Townes Van Zandt
Birth name Townes Van Zandt
Born March 7, 1944(1944-03-07), in Fort Worth, Texas
Died January 1, 1997 (aged 52), in Nashville, Tennessee
Genre(s) Blues, Folk, Country
Occupation(s) Musician, Songwriter, Producer, Arranger
Instrument(s) Guitar, Vocals
Years active 1965–1996
Label(s) Poppy, Tomato, Sugar Hill
Associated acts Hemmer Ridge Mountain Boys
Website http://www.townesvanzandt.com

Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was a country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet. Throughout his career he was widely admired by fellow songwriters, particularly in the folk and country genres, but greater fame eluded him, in part because of his unconventional vocal style and in part because of his erratic personal behavior. Many of his songs, including "Pancho and Lefty," "If I Needed You," and "To Live Is to Fly," have been recorded by other notable performers and are considered standards of their genre.

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[edit] Biography

[edit] Origins and career

Born in Fort Worth, Texas to an oil-wealthy family, he traveled during his youth around Texas and Colorado. He was the third-great-grandson of Isaac Van Zandt, a prominent leader of the Republic of Texas. Van Zandt County in east Texas was named after his family in 1848.

Van Zandt was being groomed for Texas governorship,[citation needed] but he dropped out of college in the 1960s after being inspired by singer-songwriters and deciding to pursue a singing career. He was very intelligent[citation needed] and was diagnosed manic-depressive in his early twenties. He was treated with insulin shock therapy, which erased much of his long-term memory. His lack of memory and his mental condition contributed to both the passion and sense of isolation evident in his songs.

One of his major influences was Texas blues man Lightnin' Hopkins, whose songs were a constant part of his repertoire. He also cited Bob Dylan (in particular, Dylan's early records) as having had a major impact on his music. Close friend Guy Clark was also often noted as an influence.

In 1968, Van Zandt met Houstonian and songwriter Mickey Newbury in a Houston coffee shop. It was Newbury who persuaded Van Zandt to go to Nashville, where he was introduced, by Newbury, to the man who would become his producer, Cowboy Jack Clement. For much of the 1970s, he lived a reclusive life in a cabin in Tennessee, with no indoor plumbing or phone, appearing only occasionally to play shows. He normally played small venues (often to crowds of fewer than 50 people) but began to move towards playing larger venues (and even made a handful of television appearances) during the 1990s.

In 1975, Van Zandt was featured prominently in the documentary film Heartworn Highways with Guy Clark, Steve Earle, and David Allen Coe.

Generally shy and reserved, Van Zandt struggled with a heroin addiction and alcoholism throughout his adult life. At times he would become drunk on stage and forget the lyrics to his songs. Some critics believe his alcoholism inhibited his performances, whereas others believe it made his lyrical expression more genuine. His performances showcased his dry sense of humor, a feature that also showed in some of his songwriting.

[edit] Death

He continued writing and performing at his own pace through the 1990s until his death on New Years Day of 1997 in Nashville, most likely due to a massive pulmonary embolus (blood clot in the lungs) following hip surgery. When he died, his daughter told her mother "Daddy had a fight with his heart."[1]

Van Zandt is remembered as a great songwriter who left a legacy of great songs and inspired musicians. Influential in the sub-genre referred to as outlaw country, his Texas-grounded impact stretched farther than country. He has been cited as a source of inspiration by such artists as Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Marah, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, Nanci Griffith, Cowboy Junkies, John Francis, Brett Hemphill and Meat Puppets.[citation needed] Steve Earle paid his own homage to Van Zandt, describing him as the greatest songwriter who ever lived, and writing "Fort Worth Blues" as a memorial to the night of his death. [1]

A live version of Van Zandt's cover of The Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers" was used during the final scene of the Coen Brothers' 1998 film, The Big Lebowski. The song was also included on the movie's soundtrack.

In 2006, the film Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt chronicling the artist's life and legacy was released in the United States. A biography, titled To Live's To Fly : The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt was released in 2007.

The Pat Green album "George's Bar" included a special edition, hidden track, version of "Songs About Texas" which was written partly in tribute to Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Robert Earl Keen, all classic Texas Folk/Country musicians. It also includes special vocals by Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' hugely successful 2007 album Raising Sand includes a cover version of the van Zandt song "Nothin'" with the powerful lyric 'being born is going blind and bowing down a thousand times'.

Vetiver's album of covers "Thing of the Past" [2008] includes a version of the Van Zandt song "Standin'".

[edit] Discography

[edit] Quotes about Van Zandt

  • "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." — Steve Earle.
  • "I think of Townes as the greatest folk song writer that my native state of Texas ever gave birth to. Some of us song writers are just lyricists, but he was definitely a poet." — Nanci Griffith
  • "Sometimes there was a lot of words, there was a lot of phonetic hot licks going on. It's the holes you leave, you know, emotionally in the storyline, and Townes was like...It almo(st)...he was so good at it, it sounds unconscious, I don't believe it was, I think he knew what he was doing." [Brown: "How can you tell?"] "..."Well, 'Cause I know Townes, he was a smart son of a bitch, man and he's the coolest guy that ever walked, but he was not unaware of how good he was and what he was doing. I'm sorry, he just wasn't. He knew what he was doing, you know? It wasn't magic. It was fuckin' hard work, and paying attention." — Guy Clark
  • "Townes Van Zandt, he died too soon, but now he's up there with Hank and they're both fightin' the Nashville Blues." - Cory Morrow "Nashville Blues"

[edit] Quotes from Van Zandt

  • "I've met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve [Earle] could get anywhere near his coffee table." — Townes Van Zandt.
  • "I don't envision a very long life for myself. I think my life will run out (pause) before my work does, you know? I've designed it that way." — In: Be Here To Love Me (Palm Pictures).
  • "Well, many of the songs, they aren't sad, they're hopeless." — Townes Van Zandt, after being asked why he only wrote sad songs.
  • "There are only two kinds of songs; there's the blues, and there's zip-a-dee-doo-dah." — [2]
  • "Here's a song I wrote during an economics class — one of my very last economics classes (audience laughter). My momma used to tell me, 'just sing, Townes. Don't talk, just sing and play". — From the intro to "Snake Mountain Blues," off the "Live and Obscure" compilation.
  • "Doing your best is a process of trying to do your best." — Townes Van Zandt, as quoted in "Zen Guitar."


[edit] References

  1. ^ Kruth, J. (2007) "To Live's to Fly : The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt"
  2. ^ Anthony Decurtis, "Rocking My Life Away: The Ghost of Townes Van Zandt", Rolling Stone, January 25, 2002
  • Lomax, John III. (1998). "Townes Van Zandt." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 562.
  • John Kruth. "To Live's to Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt". Da Capo Press, 2007. ISBN 0306815532

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Van Zandt, Townes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH 1944-03-07
PLACE OF BIRTH Fort Worth, Texas
DATE OF DEATH 1997-01-01
PLACE OF DEATH Smyrna, Tennessee