Death on Credit
Senior Member
Townes Van Zandt is one of the most famously unappreciated musicians in the pop spectrum. He never had a hit single, or album, but his name has a legendary tinge in songwriting circles all over the world. Sounding like Bob Dylan coming through the mouth of Hank Williams, Townes is something elusive, hard to pin down. He has a Texan country tinge, but is far more fluid than many country singers. His words are sophisticated, his presentation subtle and understated with a feeling of desperate immediacy bubbling below the surface.
Listening to this record, all 90 minutes of it, left me in awe throughout each and every song. Here we have the maladjusted singer-songwriter standing alone before an audience of maybe 50 or so people. Cracking jokes and banter in between songs of loneliness and futility. This is one of the most honest records that I've ever encountered. Just a man pouring his heart out with no assumptions of success, only a desire to sing his songs. His voice sizzles, breaks, cracks...With every word, delivered with care, you can hear a man fighting for his life like any song might be his last. The songs go back and forth between songs of weary travelers who've seen hard times, to cowboy tunes, to witty rockabilly influenced jaunts, to sad songs that call forth feelings of standing alone on a hill watching the rain fall.
If you like singer-songwriters, and songs with earnest spirit, Townes Van Zandt is an artist that you can't afford to miss.
