Today marks twenty-eight years since the death of singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. At the time of his passing, he was already a legend to many songwriters and musicians. Any music fan heavily invested in the Texas songwriting scene had heard his name, perhaps from Steve Earle or Willie Nelson, or at the very least they were listening to songs by the first generation of songwriters influenced by Townes Van Zandt. And in the decades since his passing, his influence has grown, leading to a downright mythical aura around the late, great, Townes Van Zandt. I won't walk you through his biography, there are plenty of articles, books, and a great documentary (Be Here to Love Me ) which all shed light on who Townes was as a person.
When I sat down to write a song about Townes, I knew I wanted to approach it as a poem, not a biography. After all, songwriters are poets, whether we consider ourselves as such, and many of Townes' songs benefit from his background as a poet. So I leaned into the poetic aspects of Van Zandt's legacy, and the poetry in the idea of being a traveling songwriter - the wandering, the melancholy, the addiction, and the tandem mercy and ache of the blues, and how Townes has inspired so many songwriters and artists of all walks. When it finally came time to record the song, it was important to keep it stripped-down and simple. I wanted to capture the vibe that you're sitting in some small venue on a weeknight… you don't know the singer's name, but it's just them and their guitar, and they have something inside them that they have to put out into the world. My friend Wes Taylor engineered the simple session, and you can listen to the song, Look Who's Coming to Town, right now on your favorite music-streaming service.
You can decide for yourself if it's worth a damn or if I missed the mark. Townes once said, “I don’t think you can ever do your best. Doing your best is a process of trying to do your best…”
So, here's to trying to do our best, friends. And if you've never listened to Townes, why not spin one of his records today?
- Clint Tomerlin
LISTEN HERE: Look Who's Coming to Town
