„Towns Van Zant is the best songwriter in the world and a place on the coffee table Boba Dilana in his cowboy boots and say that,” he once stated Steve Erl.
It is important to consider this intemperate fan statement not in its literal meaning, but in its illustrativeness. Earle must have uttered it in order to poke a finger in the eye of budding intellectualist-minded elitists who are disgusted by the simplicity in poetic expression, to which Van Zant was prone, and are unable to perceive quality, except that generally recognized. On the other hand, despite its bombast, it can serve as a starting point for understanding the significance of Towns’ musical legacy. Today, when the twentieth anniversary of his death is coming to an end, we are reminded of some key moments of his life and creativity.
Townes was a talented and highly intelligent scion of a famous and wealthy Texas family. After being diagnosed with manic depression, he underwent insulin shock therapy, which caused memory loss. He listened and learned from others about his childhood and his earlier life. It seems that after that, inspired by the mythology of early American music, in the absence of an idea of his former self, he recreated his personality based on a mythical template. He left the comfort of his family home and indulged in life on the road, guitar in hand and backpack full of records on his back, living in log cabins and caravans, sometimes spending whole days in the mountains on horseback. He did it “for the songs”, as the title of his debut album suggests.
Van Zant weaved the experiences, experiences and conclusions accumulated by such a way of life into his songs. Hence, it is not surprising that he often expressed some of the deepest knowledge and truths about life in the simplest possible way, in the manner of old country, blues and folk masters. With this, he gave his songs credibility and directness when addressing the listener. The tears of an old black man listening to Townes play Waitin’ Round To Diein the documentary Heartworn Highwayssay a lot about it. The reaction is similar Krisa Kristofferson to probably Van Zant’s most famous track, Pancho and Lefty. He once said that when he first heard the opening lines of this tale of two desperadoes, he thought they were talking about him.
Towns Van Zant’s songs and the characters that inhabit them are of the same composition as their creator: namely, it is impossible to determine exactly where in them the reality ends and the myth begins. Classic heroes of country songs, such as outlaws, desperadoes, truckers, cowboys and beautiful, but often dangerous women, are also part of his poetic world. What sets him apart from other members of that genre is that he expanded that world with mysticism, Southern Gothic, and even motifs taken from literary works. Hence all the creepiness of the track Our Mother The Mountain and epic subject matter in Silver Ships Of Andilarinspired by Tolkien’s works. Van Zant’s greatness as a songwriter lies precisely in the fact that he mastered the luxuries of a genre and transcended them, without committing any form of “blasphemy”. When we have that fact in mind, it becomes obvious that most of what we call Americana, alt country, or folk rock rests precisely on the foundations he laid.
Towns Van Zant released six, out of a total of ten, studio albums in the period from 1968 to 1972. Already the first, For The Sake Of the Songhe showed all the splendor of his talent. However, Townes himself seems not to have been the most satisfied with the sound that dominated this record. The excessive instruments and arrangements that were in line with the then-current trends in folk music did not exactly correspond to his aesthetic standards. Therefore, on subsequent releases, he returned to songs such as Tecumseh Valley, Waitin’ Round To Die, I’ll Be Here In The Mornig i Sad Cinderellaand stripped them of the 1968 admixture, giving them a solid folk-canthroid attitude. Van Zant was able to convey these stripped-down numbers with his voice and guitar, wherever he happened to be, which earned him the honor of many seeing him as the heir of the medieval troubadours.
Towns struggled with depression and alcohol and drug addiction for most of his life. Despite this, the basic idea of his creativity is best reflected in the chorus of the song To Live Is To Flywhich in a free translation looks something like this: “To live means to fly, high and low, so wipe the dust from your wings and the tears from your eyes.” These verses, in their simplicity and beauty, could, without exaggeration, stand in any ancient book on which modern civilization rests, from the works of ancient philosophers, the Bible, all the way to the philosophy of thinkers from the Far East. The way in which they restore courage and dignity to the listener, correcting his bent hump, is in favor of this.
In the two decades that have passed since Townes’ death, the influence of his works has not waned. Every year, a considerable number of covers of his songs appear, and quite often entire albums are filled with them. They are an integral part of the soundtracks of many films and series. After the death of its fifty-two-year-old author, the songs continued to evolve and spread the word about the Texas troubadour. An authentic country and rock hero, and his life lived for the sake of song, was given the greatest recognition.
Today, when we saw off the year in which Death worked overtime, and when the sad anniversary of Van Zant’s passing is coming to an end, the author of these lines thought it important to remind one of the most influential authors in this music, whose fans include Emil Haris, Robert Plant, VIII Nelsonband members Cowboy Junkies i Mudhoneypa i sam gorepomenuti Dylan. With the chorus of the song To Live Is To Fly like a mantra, we enter the New Year. Wipe the dust from your wings, sleep and tears from your eyes and bravely continue your flight. High or low, it doesn’t matter. It’s certainly easier with Townes’ music. Happy New Year!
Source: balkanrock.com
