BUYER’S GUIDE

OUR MOTHER THE MOUNTAIN

POPPY, 1969

Cut in LA with Cowboy Jack Clement producing and a top studio band, including James Burton on lead guitar and dobro, Charlie Mccoy on harmonica and Don Randi on keyboards, Townes’ second album has a cinematic undertow. The arrangements soften the bleakness of the storytelling, Townes’ voice is pure and clear. Includes the tender “Tecumseh Valley” and the tormented “Kathleen”. The title track is a folky hallucination. 8/10

TOWNES VAN ZANDT

POPPY, 1969

The mood of Townes’ third album is set by the weary melancholy of the opening “For The Sake of The Song”, which has Leonard Cohen-like reserves of ennui. Townes revisits “Waitin’ Around To Die” from his debut. It remains one of his great songs, best viewed on the film Heartworn Highways, when he sings it alongside weeping elderly neighbour Uncle Seymour. “Don’t Take It Too Bad” might easily be mistaken for optimism. 9/10

DELTA MOMMA BLUES

POPPY, 1971

The production by

Ron Frangipane on this downbeat set is understated, possibly reflecting the disengaged studio mood. The strength of Townes’ writing remains. “Tower Song” is a doomed love song of exquisite tenderness. The title track has a less romantic inspiration, being a hymn of praise to Robitussin DM, the codeine-rich cough syrup. 8/10

THE LATE GREAT TOWNES VAN ZANDT

POPPY, 1972

Emmylou Harris’s cover of “Pancho And Lefty” secured Townes’s reputation as a writer. In Townes’ version, producer Jack Clement sugars the pill. There are a couple of nods to Hank Williams, notably a muted rendition of “Honky Tonkin’”. “If I Needed You” is one of the great Townes songs. Jack Clement’s failed attempts to persuade Charley Pride to record it verged on violence. 8/10

THE NASHVILLE SESSIONS

POPPY, 1993

This 1973 recording, originally to be titled ‘Seven Come Eleven’, went unreleased for 20 years because of a financial dispute, allegedly prompting studio owner Jack Clement to wipe the masters. “Townes came back from Nashville saying he’d made the best record he’d ever made,” says Steve Earle. Whether the pure version ever existed is a matter of speculation. Manager John Lomax III says The Nashville Sessions derives from a safety copy of the tapes. 7/10