I first heard Townes Van Zandt in 1977. It was in New Mexico at my friend Tom's house. He told me it was an album I needed to hear called Live at the Old Quarter in Houston and it was a two-record set. I think I sat there listened to it all the way through, both records, both sides. It was just about the 
newest music (with some of the corniest jokes) I had ever heard. The words. The words. They weren't strung together like other writers string words together; Townes' words gathered wherever words gather to lean against each other, touch each other with meaning, and be heard. In 1977, New Mexico was new to me too so I figured at first maybe Townes belonged to that time and place in my life, but that wasn't it. It is always the time and place for Townes. I bought my own copy of Live at the Old Quarter and played it nearly to death. It was among the first cd's I bought and among the first albums I put on iTunes. When I hit shuffle on the iTunes and a Townes song pops up, I still stop and listen. I have heard "Pancho and Lefty" hundreds of times; I even learned to play and sing it myself. It plays, I listen. Townes' songs remain some of the newest music I have ever heard. I know he ended up a sorry-assed drunk and a burden to his friends and family, but as I heard the novelist T.C. Boyle say a few minutes ago on television, a man doesn't have to be a good person to make great art (he was talking about Frank Lloyd Wright, but Townes probably falls into that category too). Having known some artists in my life, I have to agree.
Now Steve Earle has made a new album called Townes. Steve has been Townes-obsessed for a long time, even named his son after Townes. It turns out Steve is the right man at the right time to
sing Townes Van Zandt songs. Steve is a word guy and he seems to have recognized the same thing I did a long time ago: Townes didn't write lyrics; he gathered words together and turned them loose to do what they needed to do. That is what the best writers do. Steve has that knack of setting the words free too. Of course, there is one song Steve should have left alone. A few years ago Willie Nelson turned Townes' song "Marie" into the saddest song I have ever heard on a Townes tribute cd and Steve doesn't even come close. But he makes up for it with a particularly raw version of "Lungs." Steve lifts Townes and all his darkness up into the light. This is a set of songs worth owning.
The New York Times did a good piece recently on Steve and Townes.
If only Texas could be as wonderful as its music.
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