Album #45: Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt (1970)

Like many good things in my life the last few months, Townes Van Zandt is thanks to Youth Lagoon. I was on his last.fm page and saw that Van Zandt was one of his influences, so I checked him out. As a country music hater, his association with the genre worried me, but then I realized he’s pre-80s country, which is when it was more closely tied to folk and wasn’t a bunch of twangy bulls—t. Van Zandt touches on many different themes and moods on this album, like drug use in “Waiting ‘Round to Die” and happier things in songs like “Colorado Girl” and “Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel.”

Song #138: Townes Van Zandt - Colorado Girl (1969)

I’m really Youth Lagoon, the stage name of Trevor Powers and who appears on both my album and song lists, so I was looking on his artist page on last.fm and in the description, it said one of his influences is Townes Van Zandt. Curious, I looked the dude up and it turns out he’s awesome. He was a folk/country musician in the 60s and 70s who, like many others, didn’t get the credit he deserved until he was six feet under.

His self-titled 1969 album is a real gem, with all songs but three rated 4 stars in my iTunes. Here, all you get is his unique voice and acoustic guitar. Although the tempo is slow, the track can be a catchy sing-along because it’s fun to try to imitate his hard-to-recreate timbre.