Townes Van Zant - High, Low and In-Between

Townes Van Zant is one of my all time favorite songwriters. He influenced so many great singer songwriters that came later, it would take another blog to go through them all. Most importantly to me, Lyle Lovett covered a few of his songs and sites him as a huge influence. TVZ never had any hits songs to his own name, but a couple of songs he wrote, most notably "Pancho and Lefty" were hits for other singers, in this case a number one hit for Willie Nelson. TVZ got his start in the mid-60's singing a mix of folk and country songs. As he got older his voice sounded more ragged and moved to a lower register. He was know to be a heavy drinker and spent most of his life on the road. He died relatively young, but left a lot of great music behind. High, Low and In-Between captures twenty two of his best studio recordings and is a good place to start your love affair with Townes Van Zant.