Tuesday 7 March 2023

Townes Van Zandt born 7 March 1944


John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter. His musical style has often been described as melancholy and features rich, poetic lyrics. During his early years, Van Zandt was respected for his guitar playing and fingerpicking ability. 

Van Zandt was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His father was in the oil business and the family moved around a lot to Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, among other places which accounted for his sometimes vague answers to questions of where he "came from." In 1962, he enrolled at the University of Colorado Boulder, wrote poetry, and listened to records by Lightnin' Hopkins and Hank Williams. In the spring of his second year, his parents flew to Boulder to bring Townes back to Houston, worried about his binge drinking and episodes of depression. 

They admitted him to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was diagnosed with manic depression. He received three months of insulin shock therapy, which erased much of his long-term memory. In 1965, he was accepted into the University of Houston's pre-law program. Soon after, he attempted to join the Air Force, but was rejected because of a doctor's diagnosis that labelled him "an acute manic-depressive who has made minimal adjustments to life". After Townes' father died in January 1966 at age 52, he quit school and went on the road for the first time having been inspired by his singer-songwriter heroes to pursue a career in playing music. 

In 1965, Van Zandt began playing regular shows at the Jester Lounge in Houston for $10 per night. After the Jester closed, he began to regularly perform (and occasionally live) at Sand Mountain Coffee House. In these Houston clubs, he met fellow musicians Lightnin' Hopkins, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Doc Watson. His repertoire consisted mostly of covers of songs written by Hopkins, Bob Dylan, and others, as well as original novelty songs like "Fraternity Blues." In 1966, Harris Van Zandt had encouraged his son to stop playing covers and write his own songs. 

                              

In 1968, Van Zandt met songwriter Mickey Newbury in a Houston coffee shop. Newbury persuaded Van Zandt to go to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was introduced by Newbury to the man who became his longtime producer, "Cowboy" Jack Clement. The years between 1968 and 1973 proved to be his most prolific era. Van Zandt released six albums during the time period. Among the tracks written for these albums were "To Live Is to Fly", "Pancho and Lefty", and "If I Needed You". These songs eventually raised Van Zandt to near-legend status in American and European songwriting circles. 

In the mid-1970s, Van Zandt split from his longtime manager, Kevin Eggers. He found a new manager, John Lomax III (grandson of the famed folk music historian John Lomax), who set up a fan club for Van Zandt. In 1978, the singer fired Lomax and re-hired Eggers. He soon signed with Eggers' new label, Tomato Records The following year, he recorded Flyin' Shoes; he did not release another album until 1987's At My Window. Despite critical acclaim, he remained a cult figure. He normally played small venues (often to crowds of fewer than fifty people) but began to move towards playing larger venues (and even made a handful of television appearances) during the 1990s. For much of the 1970s, he lived a reclusive life outside of Nashville in a tin-roofed, bare-boards shack with no heat, plumbing or telephone, occasionally appearing in town to play shows. 

Van Zandt was addicted to heroin and alcohol throughout his adult life. At times, he became drunk on stage and forgot the lyrics to his songs. At one point, his heroin habit was so intense that he offered Kevin Eggers the publishing rights to all of the songs on each of his first four albums for $20. At various points, his friends saw him shoot up not just heroin, but also cocaine, vodka, as well as a mixture of rum and Coke. 

As a result of Van Zandt's constant drinking, Harold Eggers, Kevin's brother, was hired as his tour manager and 24-hour caretaker in 1976, a partnership that lasted for the rest of the singer's life. His battles with addiction led him into rehab nearly a dozen times throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Medical records from his recovery centers indicate that he believed his drinking had become a problem around 1973, and that by 1982 he was drinking at least a pint of vodka daily. 

Van Zandt continued writing and performing through the 1990s, though his output slowed noticeably. He had enjoyed some sobriety during the early 1990s, but actively abused alcohol during his final years. In 1994, he was admitted to the hospital to detox, when a doctor told Jeanene Van Zandt that trying to detox Townes again could potentially kill him. He grew increasingly frail with friends noting that he seemed to have "withered." 

Townes Van Zandt died in the early morning hours of January 1, 1997, at the age of 52. His official cause of death was "natural" cardiac arrhythmia. 

(Edited from Wikipedia) 

5 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Townes Van Zandt - Texas Troubadour 68-78 (2005 Charly)” go here:

https://workupload.com/file/TBBL6Q58AWm

CD1

01 For The Sake of The Song 4:45
02 Tecumseh Valley 2:41
03 Many A Fine Lady 3:51
04 Quicksilver Daydreams Of Maria 3:39
05 Waitin' Around To Die 2:23
06 I'll Be Here In The Morning 2:44
07 Sad Cinderella 4:40
08 The Velvet Voices 3:13
09 All Your Young Servants 2:57
10 Talkin' Karate Blues 3:05
11 Sixteen Summers, Fifteen Falls 2:36
12 Be Here To Love Me 2:36
13 Kathleen 2:45
14 She Came And She Touched Me 4:01
15 Like A Summer Thursday 3:02
16 Our Mother The Mountain 4:20
17 Second Lover's Song 2:14
18 St. John The Gambler 3:04
19 Tecumseh 4:53
20 Snake Mountain Blues 2:37
21 My Proud Mountains 5:02
22 Whe She's Acting This Way 5:24

CD2

01 For The Sake Of The Song 5:18
02 Columbine 2:30
03 Waitin' Around To Die 2:41
04 Don't Take It Too Bad 2:50
05 Colorado Girl 3:15
06 Lungs 2:25
07 I'll Be Here In The Morning 2:57
08 Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel 5:17
09 Quicksilver Daydreams of Maria 4:41
10 None But The Rain 2:23
11 F.F.V 3:32
12 Delta Momma Blues 3:57
13 Only Him Or Me 2:27
14 Turnstyled, Junkpiled 3:20
15 Tower Song 4:07
16 Come Tomorrow 2:55
17 Brand New Companion 4:41
18 Where I Lead Me 2:47
19 Rake 4:01
20 Nothin' 2:46

CD3

01 Two Hands 2:34
02 You Are Not Needed Now 4:15
03 Greensboro Woman 2:21
04 Highway Kind 2:15
05 Standin' 3:23
06 No Deal 3:13
07 To Live Is To Fly 3:15
08 When He Offers His Hand 3:00
09 Mr. Mudd And Mr. Gold 2:22
10 Blue Ridge Mountains 2:10
11 High, Low And In Between 3:13
12 No Lonesome Tune 4:21
13 Sad Cinderella 4:15
14 German Mustard (A Clapalong) 2:55
15 Don't Let The Sunshine Fool Ya' 2:26
16 Honky Tonkin' 3:43
17 Snow Don't Fall 2:42
18 Fraulein 2:43
19 Pancho And Lefty 3:40
20 If I Needed You 3:44
21 Silver Ships Of Andilar 5:08
22 Heavenly Houseboat Blues 2:40

CD4

01 Loretta 3:50
02 No Place To Fall 3:29
03 Flyin' Shoes 4:23
04 Who Do You Love 4:00
05 When She Don't Need Me 3:11
06 Dollar Bill Blues 3:00
07 Rex's Blues 2:29
08 Pueblo Waltz 3:01
09 Brother Flower 2:55
10 Snake Song 2:35
11 The Spider Song 2:04
12 Upon My Soul 1:51
13 Buckskin Stallion Blues 2:57
14 At My Window 3:43
15 Two Girls 3:48
16 Fraternity Blues 2:51
17 White Freight Liner Blues 3:11
18 Talking Thunderbird Blues 2:35
19 Nine Pound Hammer 3:10
20 Chauffeur's Blues 4:35
21 Cocaine Blues 3:17
22 Only Him Or Me 2:32

A big thank you to Butterboy for the loan of this box set. All I’ve done is added some extra artwork.

This 4-CD box set includes Townes Van Zandt's seven studio albums from his creative peak between 1968 and 1978, plus four studio out-takes c. 1972/3 and eight live songs performed in July 1973 (as taken from the Live At The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas live album) which do not appear on the seven studio albums. The recordings, 82 tracks in all, including the classic tracks 'Pancho and Lefty' and 'If I Needed You' encapsulate Townes' most creative period and underpin his awesome reputation which has grown ever stronger since his death at the age of 52 in 1997.

thanksloads said...

Thanks for posting Townes

iggy said...

Fantastic offering of the late, great Townes. Thanks and all good wishes, Iggy

Hitparade said...

Bob,
Thank you this music and all the music all these years.
Please advise Butterboy's web address, perhaps he has other albums for download.
How do you determine the birthday's of so many obscure performers, is there a master list by date? What are your favorite blogs for downloading music, including ones that may cost money?

boppinbob said...

Hello HP,
Well it all started way back prior to my "Blogger" days. I used to belong to Multiply which was well ahead of its time and had a much better system than Google's Blogger. I wanted to do something different than just sharing copious amounts of record albums as is the norm, so I opted for highlighting all sorts of artists on their birthdays. Alas the Multiply owners eventually pulled the plug hence me being here!

My birthday dates came from just a simple Google search and it snowballed from there. Now I have many web sites I can visit for information. I have no master list but have entered all artists birthdates in an old A4 full day to page diary (which is now quite full). I also get requests, suggestions and help from various commenters.

On each day I always check that I have an album for evaluation regarding the person I am
researching, if not I can access a few of the myriad of music blogs or music forums and groups that I've joined over the years.

I have a vast collection of my own CD's which I am constantly adding to via many visits to the local charity shops and I frequently purchase cheap CD's from "Magpie" (especially the pre 50's music).I am also digitizing them to save space as well. I also have access to the local Angel Radio record library. If I "borrow" an album from another blog I always try to credit the source.

I hope that answers most if not all your questions. Regards, Bob.