This Mornin' I Am Born AgainListen. Get Re-Born

Today, March 7th, is the birth date of the late, great Townes Van Zandt. He would be 66 years old and had his lifestyle not gotten the best of him, he would no doubt still be creating beautifully haunting music. I’ve been meaning to get to some Townes posts here at This Mornin’, but keep putting it off. Maybe I’ll re-read John Kruth’s fervent tribute To Live’s To Fly. It was great the first time through, but I was in it for the story. Next time, I’ll log away all the recording session details and get some good post material from it.

Townes’ recorded music, more often than not, became the victim of terrible studio treatment, yet still the power of his songs broke through the odd backing vocals and poor accompanying music. Anyone alive today that fancies their self a songwriter owes much to Townes Van Zandt. And those that don’t aren’t worth listening to. Period. Rest in peace, sir.

Townes Van Zandt - Waitin' Around To Die (Heartworn Highway Documentary)

Another little album release update, here.

Pitchfork has reported in detail that Steve Earle, longtime friend and early protege to Townes Van Zandt, will release a tribute album to the music legend. The album, titled simply Townes, features a slew of impressive cameos including Rage’s Tom Morello, Steve’s wife Allison Moorer, some un-named ‘bluegrass legends,’ and most excitingly, his son Justin in a duet of ‘Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold.’

Head over to the Pitchfork story to stream ‘Lungs‘ from the album. The song was the only track produced by John King, who turned the dials for Steve’s most recent Washington Square Serenade. The track definitely has the same gritty, electric ambiance that WSS evoked and surprisingly adds a new layer to Townes’ song. But with a songwriter like Townes, it’s tough to screw one up. If there’s anyone in this world to do the late, great Townes Van Zandt justice, it’s Steve Earle.

The tribute artist once famous for saying “Townes Van Zandt is the greatest songwriter in the whole world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that,” now has this to say:

“This may be one of the best records I’ve ever made.”

Check out the New West album page to stream track 1 as well.

01 Pancho and Lefty
02 White Freightliner Blues
03 Colorado Girl
04 Where I Lead Me
05 Lungs
06 No Place to Fall
07 Loretta
08 Brand New Companion
09 Rake
10 Delta Momma Blues
11 Marie
12 Don’t Take It Too Bad
13 Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold
14 (Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria
15 To Live Is to Fly

Pick up the album on May 12th (New West) on both CD and Vinyl.

For now, I’ll give you one of my favorite Townes tracks as well as an extra song from Steve. He wrote the song in ‘97 as his way of dealing with the loss of the legend and friend.

Townes Van Zandt – Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel
Steve Earle – Ft. Worth Blues

The other day i got a request for a re-post of a song that showed up on my Ode to the Vinyl Record. Instead of just re-linking the Ryan Adams’ If I Am A Stranger vinyl rip from an old 7-inch, i thought i’d make a post with some interesting news. Thanks to Christmas, i now have a new toy to help supply my faithful readers with some extra musical goodness in 2009:

Not only is that a badass new record player with great sound, fast playback, and an iPod dock, but it has a USB cable that allows for easy ripping of that Vinyl sound. So many of those Vinyl-only tracks i possess will be making their way to the digital world and onto the pages of This Mornin’ I Am Born Again. This comes just in time for the part of my Ryan Adams Spotlight fast approaching that will now include many Side D’s full of great bonus tracks.

Ryan Adams – If I Am A Stranger (Vinyl Rip)

Townes Van Zandt – Snake Song
buy Flyin’ Shoes (1978)

It’s sad how little i’ve talked about Townes here.
i’ll try to change that in the near future.

“There was this drunk walkin‘ down the street. He walks up
to this cop and he says ‘Man, somebody stole my car.’

The cop says ‘Well, where was it?’

And he says ‘It was right on the end of this key.’

The cop says ‘Why don’t you go down to the precinct and file a report?’

Guy says ‘Okay’ and he starts to walk off.

The cop says, ‘Before you go downtown, you better zip up your fly…..’

The drunk says ‘Aw, man. They got my girl, too.’”

If you’re already a Townes Van Zandt fan – you MUST have this record….
If you’re new to Townes – this is as good a place as ever to start……

[eMusic] Free 14-day trial with 35 mp3 downloads – FREE!
[Amazon] $23.98 hard copy/$11.49 mp3

mp3: Townes Van Zandt – Two Girls
mp3: Townes Van Zandt – Lungs

i’ll probably be inspired to write another TVZ post when i finish up the book.

One of the other blogs i read has features called Compare & Contrast as well as one called Homonym – both highlight songs that have the same name, but sound different. i’m not really clever enough to come up with a title that is different (or better) than those, so here are a couple songs for you to consider…………..

i find it interesting that so many bands names, band logos, song titles, etc. are inspired by the fabled CROW. Going back even before Poe and his Raven, the black bird has long symbolized death (or is at least an omen for it) in mythology and folklore. So what better way to pay homage to the ghastly bird than for two of the greatest folksters to sing the blues for him.

mp3: Bob Dylan – Black Crow Blues
buy Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)

One of those beautiful oddities wherein despite the up-tempo nature of the tune, the feeling of the blues still comes through……

“black crows in the meadow,
across a broad highway.
though it’s funny, honey,
i just don’t feel much like a scarecrow today.”

mp3: Townes Van Zandt – Black Crow Blues
buy In The Beginning (2003)

i don’t know if anyone can evoke sadness like TVZ. Not only does Townes himself sound lonely, the reverb behind him makes him sound like he truly is alone in some dark chamber. This is the blues if i’ve ever heard ‘em…..

“well the black crows are screamin’
the yellow sun’s warm
and the grass tumbles tall down the hill.
but there’s a cold wind a buildin’
it’s bringin’ a storm,
when the call of the black crow goes still”