A Far Cry From Dead
Townes Van Zandt and his dog, Geraldine, circa 1980
I didn’t get into Townes Van Zandt until seven years ago but it’s safe to say his music influenced my outlook on life. In the early eighties Townes rented an old sharecropper’s cabin on the backside of a mountain in my Williamson County, Tennessee neighborhood. Back then I had no idea who he was but the gossip among the neighbors said an “eccentric, curmudgeon-of-a-songwriter lives in the cabin and he probably does a lot of drugs so keep your kids away.”
Spotting Townes driving around was fairly easy due to his pretty car:
Why would you think he did drugs?
After Townes moved away the cabin fell into even worse disrepair. Being kids, we started hanging out there and made it our little clubhouse. Whenever I visit Nashville I drive through my old neighborhood and fight the temptation to hike over the hill to see what became of Townes’ place.
On October 26th, 2009, England-based ForTheSakeOfTheSong is releasing a compilation of Van Zandt’s music called Introducing Townes Van Zandt Via The Great Unknown. The songs are recorded by (somewhat) little-known artists.
Track list:
1 Lessons In Time (AU) – At My Window
2 Thomas Denver Jonsson (SWE) – To Live Is To Fly
3 Loophole & Ciaran Kirby (IRL) – Lungs
4 Great Lake Swimmers (CAN) – Our Mother The Mountain
5 Fort King & My Hawaii (US) – Loretta
6 Christina Kulukundis (UK/US) – If I Needed You
7 J. Tillman (US) – My Proud Mountains
8 Gustav Haggren (SWE) – Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel
9 Kevin Tihista (US) – Still Looking For You
10 Kate Maki (CAN) – I’ll Be Here In The Morning
11 Anders Parker (US) – No Place To Fall
12 Telafonica (AU) – St. John The Gambler
13 Nick Jones (US) – Don’t Take It To Bad
14 The Wheel (US) – She Came And She Touched Me
15 Stephen Duffy & The Lilac Time (UK) – Pancho And Lefty
16 Pacific Ocean Fire (UK) – You Are Not Needed Now
17 Chris Mills (US) – Tecumseh Valley
18 The Be Good Tanyas (CAN) – Waiting Around To Die
19 Jad Fair (US) – Turnstyled, Junkpiled
Considering I recently picked-up (the awesomely great) Lost Channels by Great Lake Swimmers, I’m looking forward to hearing their version of “Our Mother The Mountain.” It’s one of my all-time favorite Van Zandt songs.
Townes Van Zandt – Our Mother The Mountain
As with many of his songs, Townes recorded a few different versions of OMTM but I like this live version the best. The violin adds a bit of eeriness to the song’s already surreal imagery.
Tyge can also be found at The Neon Lounge.
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