- Townes Van Zandt · 1968
- Townes Van Zandt · 1969
- The Late Great · 1969
- Roadsongs · 1994
- The Late Great · 1969
- Townes Van Zandt · 1969
- Townes Van Zandt · 1969
- Townes Van Zandt · 1969
- Rear View Mirror · 1993
- Flyin' Shoes · 1969
- High, Low and in Between · 1969
- For the Sake of the Song · 1968
- Our Mother the Mountain · 1969
Essential Albums
- If you were lucky enough to stumble across master songwriter Townes Van Zandt in a small Texas club, here's how he sounded. The intimate setting, with just acoustic guitars and fiddle, makes this a prize for fans. Much of the set catches him in a romantic or philosophical mood. ("To Live’s to Fly" covers both.) "Pancho & Lefty" makes for an exuberant opener, but Van Zandt doesn't shy away from his darker side, wailing through the most disconsolate song in his catalog: "Waitin' 'Round to Die."
Artist Playlists
- A songwriting troubadour whose legend continues to grow.
Live Albums
Compilations
More To Hear
- Dave and the producers play their fave Townes cuts and covers.
About Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt’s career was built around an unrelentingly honest approach to folk and outlaw country music. The gifted storyteller, born in Fort Worth, TX, in 1944 and dying in Tennessee in 1997, sympathized with outsiders because he saw himself as one. His songs, like “Poncho & Lefty,” made famous by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, are populated by outcasts and oddballs. Van Zandt was attracted to the overlooked, and his great works paint portraits of the seemingly mundane characters that eventually reveal themselves to be far more complex than the protagonists occupying center stage. Van Zandt spent his life traveling to bars and clubs across the country, playing his worn and ragged songs for anyone who lent an ear. He was the favorite songwriter of many legendary musicians, and it’s easy to tell why he built such a rabid following from fellow crooners with songs like the poignant “Waiting Around to Die” from his 1969 self-titled album, in which he took a heartbreaking look at dependency. Whether Van Zandt was singing about alcohol, a love that got away, or a gunslinging ranger, he did so honestly, and, occasionally, autobiographically.
- FROM
- Fort Worth, TX, United States
- BORN
- March 7, 1944
- GENRE
- Country