Townes Van Zandt Discussion

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My weekly chat over coffee. It’s a good way to spend a morning, I promise.

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37 thoughts on “Townes Van Zandt Discussion”

  3. Man I love your videos on us. You bring me right to the spot. being an alcoholic and guitar player myself-who hit four years of sobriety yesterday on The anniversary of Towne’s death-Kept backing up your video to listen over and over. Thank you for following your calling and happy new year. I believe you… The best year so far. You keep pumping me up like this and I’ll be playing live in 2023 🙂 God’s blessings

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  4. I hadn't known that TVZ passed away on New Years day. When you asked what song of his to listen to I had to think for a moment-there are so many. Then I got out my trusty old Gibson and played "To Live is to Fly", one of my favorites. I love your channel and all the great interviews and back stories. Keep up the good work and happy new year.

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  5. Thanks so much for this. I love "Live at the Old Quarter." He sounds so young and clear headed. His guitar playing is incredible on this record, IMHO. My wife and I play White Freightliner Blues and of course Pancho And Lefty, thats our tribute. Again, so sad for things to end the way they did for Townes, as they did for Hank Williams, lonely death by drugs and alcohol.

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  8. I was born in 96, so I unfortunately don’t even get to enjoy having a full rotation around the sun existing on the same rock as Townes, but his work has touched me immensely throughout the years, and I treasure that so much. Especially during this time of year. Old Quarter is always a go to, but over the years I’ve come to enjoy the versions on Road Songs the most. With Owen Cody’s sizzling fiddle on Lungs and Our Mother The Mountain, along with the legendary versions of Dead Flowers and Ira Hayes, it’s hard not to unhear how perfectly his raw stature is represented beyond the mystique behind the “one man and his guitar” vibe most of his other live content displays itself. Long live the late great.

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  11. Hey Otis. Thanks for sharing your stories, thoughts and experiences. Townes' music has changed my life as well as my guitar playing. To answer your question I'm going to put on a show from 1973 at the Whole Coffee House in Minnesota. One of his best. Also a great recording since it was broadcast.

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  13. I started with his self titled album (Just setting in the kitchen at the table), posted a comment and none but the rain on our music page, then went to live at the old quarter. I was a little bit late finding him, but since have glommed onto all the vinyl I can find. He speaks to my soul. I love your podcasts. Thank you so much.

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  16. I played at a Townes' tribute in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada on Monday night: a lovely evening of folks sharing their renditions of his songs. This show happens annually.

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  17. I started the day (Jan 1st) with "Kathleen" (Live From Old Quarter) 😍🥲 (It is crazy what a very good stereo system can do to his live recordings…. you can hear chairs scraping, glasses tinkling in the background…)

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  18. I first heard Townes' music while playing poker in a barracks room in Augsburg, Germany in the mid-70's. The guys loved inviting me to poker night because I'm so bad at it. But, that night I was thankful to have loss my spare change at the table. I sat on the couch and listened to this amazing singer/songwriter and was blown away. The guy whose room it was said that he went to a yard sale in Norman, Oklahoma and found Townes' first couple of albums in the trashcan. The vinyl was in very bad shape with scratches. But, Townes' music came through and left me enraptured. I tried tracking down his records but they were impossible to find back then. Not long after that game, I read in Rolling Stone about an album called The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. I was so bummed! I had just found this guy and he was dead. Of course he wasn't dead, yet.

    I have since collected all of his recordings with many from Europe. I missed seeing him in Berkley by just a few hours back in the early 90's and cussed the Universe for teasing me again. I also was able to purchase his songbook, For the Sake of the Song, directly from Wings Press. It's one of the hardcover signed and numbered editions. I'm getting near 70 years old, now and I've outlived two of my heroes. Edward Abbey and Townes van Zandt. A lot of my life's philosophy has been based on their words.

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  20. Live at the Cactus Cafe, Austin TX 16. Feb. 1991 w/ Guy Clark. The version of ”Marie” ABSOLUTELY FUCKING KILLS. Definitive version, if ya ask me. Even the introduction stops you in your tracks.

    ”Here’s a song about the homeless of the land called ”Marie”…”, Townes says, and then starts to play with perfect intonation and poise. I swear you could hear a pin drop. Masterclass.

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  22. I usually start with Rake, then see where my mood takes me. This is really great, Otis. Thanks for doing this. I’m here in OC in SoCal, and to my knowledge, there isn’t a wake here. I really wish there was. Galveston is a bit too far for a quick trip..

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  25. If your serious about Townes' music, beyond all his great live and studio albums there are well over 100 full concerts to be found on YouTube of varying length and sound quality but as someone who adores his music those live full concerts are often my go to. I agree too Otis, Rear view mirror is one of his best live recordings, the stuff he did with Owen Cody(fiddle) are out of this world.

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  26. Hey Otis!
    We had a huge towns Van Zant tribute in San Antonio texas. Actually it is the 11th annual. 40 artists playing 40 Townes tunes. None if them duplicated. This one was epic! I actually read that it was the largest in the country. Or one of the largest anyway.
    My favorite LP is Rear View Mirror.
    I was hoping to be able to upload a picture of the crowd. I'm not able to. It was fantastic.!

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  28. Thanks Otis. Yeah, I listen to Townes every day. My son introduced me to his music years back and I can barely branch out to listen to anyone else since. I like At My Window and Rear View Mirror: well, pretty much anything Townes did. Recently I have been proud to add Townes with Guy Clark, Gary Nicholson and Billie Joe Shaver on an album I'd love to find (no luck so far) playing at the Bluebird Cafe Nashville. It's beautiful. Right now my favourite 3 songs of the greatest songwriter/wordsmith/warlock are Snowin' On Raton, Don't you take it too bad and None but the Rain. I love the guy through and through, demons and all. He's brilliant and perfect in my eyes. Great story about that sink at his friend's place: amazing you saw that in the flesh. I'm an Australian and never travelled overseas but I wished (strangely one might think) I were a tad older and met him, seen him play. There's a really crappy, raw recording of Townes playing Madigans in Brunswick, Melbourne here, which I love watching. Same old Townes, same old jokes. So great.
    After I read his biography by Harold Eggers a few tears back I guess now, I listened to that 40 or so minute interview with Townes on YouTube and then went out back to watch the sun set for the day. I spoke to Townes and said Man, I hope you're at peace now. Are you Townes? As I watched the setting sun drop behind all kinds of shades of grey and white clouds, I saw a completely black cross form across the face of the tiring sun. I couldn't believe my eyes. Then that drifted away and I saw these perfect fine lines parallel to each other and equidistant form instead. It confounded me until I remembered learning guitar as a girl: E G B D F Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit. Funny happenstance, as the man would have said. Cheers for this, Otis 🍻💜🌹

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  29. PROBABLY Live at the Old Quarter – I appreciate your videos and stories as I came to Townes after he had passed and never got to see him

    I confess I'm not as fond of the older stuff as I am of the younger and healthier Townes – in my wildest dreams there's all the nights of the Old Quarter performances out there waiting to be released in a box set that I'd blow $100 on easy 🙂

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  33. Enjoyed listening to you. I agree about Highway Kind. Amazing song, that one hit me hard later like a lot of TVZ songs do. I didn`t know he had a movie made about him. Maybe you`re referring to the semi documentary, Be Here To Love me. That is great.

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  34. Live at the Old Quarter is on Apple Music – as is almost everything else by Townes. I switched when i saw Apple pay’s musician’s TWICE the Spotify rate.
    Still not enough but it’s a huge difference!

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  35. I began covering Townes in 1978. The last time I saw him in person, he opened for Guy, on Sunday, April 14, 1996, at The Ark. He was almost gone and we talked for what seemed like a long time after the show. I was saddened because I would forever recognize the toll that alcohol had taken on a brilliant and wonderful artist from that day forward. I often listen to "No Deeper Blue" and miss Guy too.

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