Performance is from the movie Heartworn Highways, which is an awesome doc from the late 70s and I really suggest watching to see what Townes was like as a dude, and to get a feel for that whole era of outlaw country in Texas. After that, watch Be Here To Love Me (2004) for a full, posthumous career retrospective that shows the downside of that lifestyle. And just listen to all of his music.
I love Heartworn Highways. I tear up almost everytime I hear this song. Fun fact: I live in Van Zandt County, TX which is named after the Van Zandt family.
A new friend lent me the DVD around Christmas. It turns out 30 years ago we went to the same shows in Chicago. The cool thing was his copy was signed by Steve Young.
There are so many great Townes tunes. If I Needed You. I'll Be Here in the Morning (which is interesting because lyrically it is a promise but musically it ends unresolved), and To Live is to Fly which has this insightful lyric Everything is not enough And nothin' is to much to bear. Where you been is good and gone All you keep is the getting there
You’ve gotta do a video on “Pancho and Lefty.” It’s maybe the most awe-inspiring song I’ve ever heard. It’s not enough to call it a song, it’s a story, and a masterpiece at that.
Apparently, Townes had just moved in together with his wife for the first time. She was happy and hopeful in embarking on this new adventure with him and one day he emerged out of his songwriting closet and said ”I wrote a song”. She was so happy for him. Then he played this …
Townes came from a prominent Texas family, but all his adult life, suffered from depression and addiction which informed so many of his songs. He was a master wordsmith who had the ability to create powerfully emotional imagery in songs that were often barely 2 minutes long ("Kathleen", "Rex's Blues" and "Highway Kind" come to mind). Traveling the road, yearning, transitory love and thoughts of despair and death are common themes, but there are notable exceptions ("To Live is to Fly", I'll Be There in the Morning", "If I Needed You"). His melodies are usually pretty simple and hauntingly beautiful. The more you explore Townes' songs, the more you find to love and appreciate about him.
Weirdly, my high school computer programming teacher was his younger brother Bill. Every year he'd put one day aside as "Townes Van Zandt day" and play us his music and talk about his older brother. He died relatively young too. Heart disease ran in the family, Townes's drug use accelerated it in his case but Bill died from a heart attack in his early 60s despite clean living. RIP the van Zandt brothers.
The elderly black man was a neighbor. When this video was made,the neighbor hadn't told anyone that he had terminal cancer. He passed away a few weeks after the video waws made.
I was a GED teacher of "at-risk" young men & women for a few years. This song reminds me of how different they thought...& how fruitless much of the established "academics" was geared for them. They had an entirely different culture & mindset...based on surviving in the moment...without the abstract, comfortable morals & reasoning of normal people. They did what they could - often destructive to themselves & others - but at least they were doing something.
Yeah when you're struggling to survive, it's all you can think about. Only when you have what you need can you start to think about other things. Just one of many reasons we should fight as a society to end poverty and homelessness by giving everyone that baseline. Food, clean water, shelter, medicine, and employment shouldn't be something people have to fight tooth and nail for in the 21st century. A better path to citizenship for refugees, internet and phone, transportation, childcare, clothing, and better accomodations for the elderly and disabled should be on that list as well.
When micheal finds out the whole Van Zandt story 🥲🥺 one of the greatest contributors to music ever and got screwed over and never honored. An incredible spirit
I don't know if a live video of it exists, but "Lungs" is one of the spookiest songs i have ever heard. Steve Earle, who was heavily influenced by Townes, did a tribute album to him a while back. I avoided it for years because I was seriously afraid of hearing Steve do Lungs. I finally listened to it, and actually Townes himself was worse. I will see if I can find a live version of it and post it in Guitargate if I do. Thank you for doing this song, Townes is one of the greatest songwriters I have ever heard.
Here’s a version I recorded in April 2020, when collapsing lungs were more of a concern: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u-GOG-GB7eM.html
Steve is a cousin of mine and my very first concert I attended was Steve earle and Bob Dylan in Houston. Townes showed up . Got to meet him and Dylan the same night .
It's a crime to humanity that Townes wasn't recognized as he should have been during his lifetime. As a fellow Texan who also suffers from Manic Depression I've always appreciated him and his music. It makes me happy that he's finally starting to be recognized. Do a video of "Nothin" by Townes, an amazing song as well
Townes wrote some amazing songs. Most people will recognize Pancho and Lefty, but other songs I have enjoyed are: If I Needed You, To Live Is to Fly, Snake Mountain Blues - (I could keep on going with over a dozen more). His version of Dead Flowers is so good I heard many people believe he is the writer and not the Stones.
Townes Van Zandt is the purest musician there ever was. He literally lived for his music. He was a vagrant who lived from place to place making sparse live recordings and selling them to support himself. Never seeked fame or fortune. He says in a documentary that “his life will run out before his work will.. I designed it that way” pretty heavy but a beautiful tortured soul. Regarded as one of the greatest songwriters ever. Even Bob Dylan has said that he’s the greatest songwriter ever
The last time I saw Townes was at the Fine Line in Minneapolis. He performed with Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson. Guy and Townes were quite drunk but it didn’t take anything away from the performance. It was a great show.
The video is a clip from the movie Heartworn Highways, a must see cinematic time capsule of a moment and a place filled with amazing musical talents (the DVD extra features has a great many additional songs that didn't make the movie for one reason or another but are still totally awesome in their own right) , To answer your question, the woman in the video is Susanna Talley Clark, singer-songwriter Guy Clark's wife. The ending fragment of a song at the start of this video clip is Guy Clark singing the last part of his song "That Old Time Feeling." Guy and Townes and Susanna were very close friends, Townes stood as their best man at their wedding. The story goes that on some lonely Texas highway Guy picked up a hitchhiking Townes who promptly reached into his bag, pulled out a vinyl record (his first recording) and gave it to Guy in return for the ride, and a friendship was born. Although not as well known as Guy and Townes, Susanna too was a successful songwriter in her own right with several songs recorded by well known country singers including a number one hit in 1989 "Come From The Heart." She also was a talented artist with a number of her paintings gracing album covers of a number of different well know musicians. Both Townes ans Susanna came from wealthy Texas society families, and I remember seeing an interview with Guy saying something to the effect that Susanna and Townes had some deep stuff between them (which I took to mean common experiences) that nobody else knew about. Along with exploring the music of Townes Van Zandt, I would strongly recommend looking into Guy Clark as well as he is another master songsmith.
Townes wrote some amazing songs. Most people will recognize Pancho and Lefty, but other songs I have enjoyed are: If I Needed You, To Live Is to Fly, Snake Mountain Blues - (I could keep on going with over a dozen more). His version of Dead Flowers is so good I heard many people believe he is the writer and not the Stones.
I’d love to see you cover “Don’t you take it too bad” by Townes. Even more, I’d love to see you watch Faded Loves and memories by Blaze Foley ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kabOPUAtJuw.html
Yes he was out of tune,a bit but hey ! the true soul of his song rings through unlike our boring mass produced music at present..sung and played by our dead over tec....so called musicians today.. relying on a souless computer to paint the picture..
This was actually his first serious song. I heard him sing it at Sand Mountain Coffee House in Houston, very early in his career. This is larer. Guitar out of rube, at least one lyrics flub. Still great He came from a prominent Texas family and did not have a horrible childhood l. But he was committed and received chemical shock treatment because of dropping out of college. He always Saud he probably had a good childhood. He just could not remember it Townes had lifelong depression problems, self medicated in various unhealthy ways l. But he could also be very funny and charming Hank Willuams was his main songwriting influence. Houston bluesman Lightnin Hopkins was a main guitar influence, more evident in other performances Keep listening
from german wikipedia disscusion(google translated): Citation not supported by published sources Audience question: "Can we help you?" as van Zandt fumbled for his dropped pick. Van Zandt: "I guess it's too late" Cologne, concert club "Underground", November 29, 1996 Hello, I posted the quote. I was in the audience at the time - I haven't seen it written down anywhere. It could at most be confirmed by other concert-goers.--Kreismeister 17:08, 12 Aug 2008 (CEST) Hello District Masters, I have no doubts about the correctness of the quote. It's just his type of humor. It's just Wikipedia with its claims to the sources... --Schorle 22:27, 13. Aug. 2008 (CEST)
Two other great songs from Heartworn Highways with some interesting guitar stuff going on are "Ohoopee River Bottomland" by Larry Jon Wilson and "Bluebird Wine" by Rodney Crowell. Definitely worth a look.
Larry Jon Wilson albums are so good, but they are largely unknown. He recorded four albums for Monument and then took like 30 years or so to record another.
dude, Townes is..one of my favorites, along with the many other Texas legendary singer-songwriters he affiliated with and inspired like the incredibly talented Steve Earle who named his late great songwriting son after him, Townes is a TOTAL LEGEND, best writer ever, of course others are better at their particular styles like Rodney Crowell, Billy Joe Shaver and Guy Clark but Townes made every single word count and even wrote a song in his sleep, so cool to see you play this, and like Townes once said "pick it..and it won't ever heal"!!! Yeah man, you just opened up a whole new world of great music. Townes wrote such important and beautiful songs. Truth is he had problems when he was young, suicidal etc and they put him through insulin shock therapy and from what I understand it erased memories of his childhood. He'd sit in a closet writing songs, and really lived what he wrote. Next level stuff. Just to give you an idea of how his mind worked, he'd start a dice game and lose it all..even the coat off his back that his buddy gave him, he'd play Russian roulette for free, he'd fall asleep with glue in his mouth to get high while he slept and have to get his mouth busted open. There was this chance he had with making a huge record deal, I remember hearing a record exec talking about it, but the night prior he ended up getting drunk with some buddies and rolling a jeep. Nearly killed him and gave him a nice facial scar. His songs will show up in films from time to time. What's great about the documentaries he's in, you'll get to see just how little money songwriters were making off royalties..even though he did write Willie and Merle's song Poncho and Lefty which is maybe the greatest country song ever, I mean those 3 men in 1 song together...how do you top that? 3 of arguably the best country songwriters and multi-talents ever in one song...wow. He was never long for this world but he made his mark. You gotta love these old recordings, you'll hear stuff in the background like bottles and their buddies saying something, and encounters with the audience and it really lets you understand the life of the musician. So yeah, check out the films he and other greats are in called "be here to love me", "heartworn highway" and "without getting killed or caught"
I discovered Van Zandt a few years ago, I am a classical guitar player, love all kinds of music. I think he was one of the greatest writers. I have listened to many of his songs, there are some truly powerful lyrics in many of them. The first part of "Pancho and Lefty", a part in "farewell miss carousel" where he says : come and get me when you're sure you don't need me then and I'll proudly call your name. "I'll be there in the morning" is touching. I've always been drawn to stories written in song, Van Zandt tells alot with very few words.
I was so stoked when I saw Townes on your channel I knew this was going to be awesome from the start. This video made my day and possibly month . Cheers!
I'm loving watching you dig into one of the best songwriters ever to hop a train. That man was one of a few that changed (saved!) my life on a fundamental basis.
The best songwriter to ever do it. period. Susanna Clark (Guy Clark's wife) was such a beautiful woman. She and Townes were close friends. and the black guy is Seymour Washington was called The Walking Blacksmith. This video was an out take from HeartWorn Highways, Guy Clark and Steve Earle were angry at the film makers because the movie was supposed to focus mostly on Guy Clark. They sent the crew to see Townes thinking Townes would drive them nuts. Steve Earle wound up saying and "of course, Townes stole the movie"
The full movie Heartworn Highways is here on RU-vid. The section this song is taken from is wonderfull. Uncle Seymour chats about being The Walking Blacksmith. Townes says “This is the first song I wrote about him.” I’m guessing it was actually about his friend Uncle Seymour’s life which is why the old guy started crying.
If I am mistaken in what you meant, ignore this message, but... No, Townes wrote this song when in college in Colorado. He says it's the first song he ever wrote (On "Live At The Old Quarter," he goes one step farther and says it's the first SERIOUS song he wrote), but wasn't about anyone. It was a fictional story.
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You just recognized your own privilege and you should be very proud, some people of a certain status never recognize our privilege. I love you back Michael, well done, I’m sharing this with my 4000 Twitter followers.
She says "This is my favorite song of his...". As for it being the first song he ever wrote...Like Bob Dylan, you should take everything Townes says with a grain of salt. He was always known to have an...on-and-off relationship with the truth. You said it could be anyone's song. That's one of the things that is so engrossing about his writing. Much like Jerry Garcia, he was able to write these characters and narratives in a way that really put the listener in the character's shoes (even for people that ARE in the character's shoes) as if Townes had experienced that reality even though he hadn't. The Van Zandt's are an old Texas oil-money family (Van Zandt County is named after them), so he didn't exactly grow up with nothing. He had a hard time relating to his family (ha) and their big-money lifestyle. He got in some trouble as a kid and after being "treated" with electro-shock "therapy", he'd lost his memories of anything before that and his wires were just a little jumbled for the rest of his life (see the grain-of-salt bit above). He felt even more disassociated from his family and empathized much more with the low-down, down-and-out, can't-win-for-losing type of folks. When an interviewer asked why he writes so many sad songs, he said "Not all of my songs are sad songs, some are just...hopeless." I recommend 'No Deeper Blue: A Film About TVZ', a 2005 documentary.
@@Guitargate no sweat. I wanted to say one more thing about his albums for people who aren't sure where to start in his discography. Nashville producers in the '70s didn't know how to handle his stripped-down, lyric-focused songs and defaulted to their usual technique of piling on every session player and instrument possible. This led to some baffling choices (i.e. horn sections, backup singers, fifty-thousand didgeridoos 😁, etc.) which served to take all the gravity out of these heavy tunes. These songs shine when its just the man and his guitar. Start with Live at the Old Quarter, a 2-disc live album recorded over 5 nights in 1973 that showcases 25 or so of his songs as they were meant to be heard.
You have to hear the live at the old quarter album. It’s him at hood his greatest. Before they way he lived started to catch up with him. Tecumseh Valley, Rex’s Blues, To Live is to Fly… the whole damn album is absolutely perfect. Would love to hear what you had to say about him in his prime. You don’t regret it.
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Probably 1 of, if not the greatest songwriter the US has produced, imho. If you're digging into Townes, I would lean more on his live recordings, such as "Rearview Mirror" or "Live at the Old Quarter" to capture his true brilliance. A lot of his studio recordings are over produced and feature the Nashville Sound; something that producer Cowbody Jack Clement later lamented doing. Notable cuts include: "Pancho & Lefty"; "Rex's Blues", "Flying Shoes"; "To Live Is To Fly"; "Rake"; "Lungs"; Dollar Bill Blues"; "No Place To Fall". To learn more of his very sad life's story, check out the documentary on his life called "Be Here To Love Me". Enjoy the rabbit hole - it's a deep one.
I agree, both those live albums are great. Much as i love the presence of the young woman and the old man in this video, it's not really the best quality... for one thing, the sound and video don't sync, and also Townes forgets or just re-makes a verse or two. The versions i am more familiar with (not sure which album they might be from) are more satisfying, at least in the audio sense!
Good point: he is more than a little deluded about his new friend, “codeine”, as it will certainly cheat, steal from & lie to him. However, in the very next line, he says: “It’s the nicest thing I’ve seen” That’s less an advocation for the benefits of opioids than a damning assessment of everything/everyone else he’s come across in his life. It’s also an incredibly astute & concise illustration of how addiction works, and why people will cling to their substance of choice even when it is clearly killing them. “You want me to go back to… all THAT? No thanks”.
Someone made a video about who the black guy is. Can’t remember his name but if you search “Townes van Zandt heartworn highways” and scroll you’ll see the thumbnail
That black guy is Uncle Seymour Washington. He was an old blacksmith in Austin and a neighbor of Townes who came over to drink with him everyday. The girl was Townes gf. For more on it, watch Heartworn Highways. You will not regret it.
An extra layer to Mr. Washington's story is that his son killed another fine singer/songwriter, Blaze Foley, in an alcohol fueled argument. Lot's of emotional pain and struggles around those old boys.
Uncle Seymour Was An Old Time Blacksmith Who Worked Shoeing Horses Between Austin Or Oak Hill & Dripping Springs & A Drinking Buddy Of Townes ….Ya Should Look Up JT Van Zant If Ya Want More Insight , He Can Pick & Sing All His Dad’s Tunes Better Than Anyone Else ….
Townes is someone I've heard of for ages but for some reason never got around to listening to until early last year and he's been 90% of what I've listened to since then. Just such a pure but broken and tortured human, lots of things didn't go his way but whatever he managed to wring out of life is immortalized in his music and I'm just thankful to hear it. His music has touched me like no other artist have done and I can't really put my finger on why, he's just magic.
The woman is Susanna Clark and the old black man is Uncle Seymour Washington ( Walking Blacksmith ). Uncle Seymour Washington wanted to be a preacher. This is from the documentary Heatworn Highway about Townes Van Zandt.
I strongly recommend you to react to Don Caballero. They’re an old instrumental math rock band and they have a live video from may 2000 that’s 25 mins long. You should check it out
First off things were different back then. The black man is Uncle Seymour Washington, a neighbor of Townes. Townes gave not one wit about money or things. He lived life and in ‘74 this was where he was at in his. No smartphones etc, you know the rest. Townes lived the life he wrote or came close to lives like it. No room for the rich. The poor, underpriviledged occupied the lyrics and music. The best songs are universal and personal like the writer is talking to you and you only. Obviously Uncle Seymour understood. Its when youre left with the friend that is the darkest partner that comforts while killing. When the unhuman becomes all that comforts you. Townes was asked in an interview.. “Why are all your songs so sad?” “My songs arent necessarily sad. Their more hopeless. Hopeless…….. dont you think life is kinda sad?” “I’ve always said that one man and a guitar on stage can make alot of changes, very powerful” -Bob Dylan You should go listen to “The Hole” by TVZ. Some kind of song right there. Here’s the kicker.. Aint no “person” going to make one joyful and happy. Ill leave it at that. But thats the human condition that sucks one down.
Several comments. First about Townes being out of tune, remember that this was recorded in the early 1970s and Snark tuners did not exist. Neither did guitar tuning phone apps or in line tuners. You tuned to a piano when one was around and if not you tuned to the guitar itself. Logically anyone more then 10 yards away from a piano was out of tune by our standards. For most new players tuning was the hardest part of the entire effort. Second is that this was done completely on the cowboy chords. Almost all country and folk music is composed and often played in concert on the cowboy chords. I saw you looking down the neck where you are not supposed to go. Almost all of Townes work is done as 4 chord progressions. "4 chords and the truth." Third is that this clip is from a documentary which includes clips from Town's best friend Guy Clark, who was a legend in Nashville for decades. Also Rodney Crowell (Shame on the Moon), Steve Earl (Copperhead Road) and Guy Clark's wife Suzanna who considered herself Townes "soul mate". Suzanna wrote more best selling songs that the rest! When Townes died Steve Earle wrote Ft. Worth Blues which I think was his best song. That one would perplex you, it has only 2 chords.
good song I've not heard you check out that I came across just a little while ago, Amigo the Devil: Hell and You. Another great song you might end up liking is from The Devil Makes Three: Old Number Seven.
The black man is,Uncle Seymoyr Washington a local blacksmith and a friend to Towbes is just simply moved by the intensity of his lyrics abd may relate.b The girl isxTowbes vest friends wife of Guy Clark Suzanna. Towbes cane from wealth but understood the marginalized. Ge,suffered from bi polar disorder abdxwrote thisxat 21. Ut isxTowbes realization of the futility abd despair in life abd that we,are all basically Waitin Aroubd to die. Towbes,suffered with addiction too but he is well-educated brilliantly poetic abd came from Texas oil wealth but left it behind to make music. He lived a life of a vagabond in shacks abd wandering.
The old black man is uncle Seymour Washington he was a blacksmith and neighbor of Townes and the woman is Townes’ girlfriend/future 2nd wife. They became estranged a few years after this was filmed in 1974 and eventually got divorced.
