Often referred to as “The Best Songwriter In The World”(an epithet foisted upon him by Steve Earle), singer/songwriter TOWNES VAN ZANDT (1944 c 1997) was once described by the LA Times as “A cross between Woody Guthrie and Leonard Cohen”. However, despite his passionately loyal (albeit minuscule) fanbase, legendary status and unconditional peer group approval, Van Zandt achieved virtually no commercial success with his own records during his lifetime, and he never recorded for a major label. Van Zandt recorded eleven studio albums and a half-dozen or so live albums during his truncated career, and this is the first volume in a reissue programme which will re-release the best of these in deluxe CD mediabook form.
Produced by former Sun Records legend Cowboy Jack Clement and recorded in Nashville, in the fall of 1968, For The Sake Of The Song was Townes’ debut album. It appeared on the tiny Poppy label, owned by Van Zandt’s manager, Kevin Eggers; however, it received no marketing support and subsequently achieved no commercial success.
Our Mother The Mountain was Van Zandt’s second album, and is widely acknowledged as his first classic. Recorded in California in the Spring of 1969, once again produced by Jack Clement, it featured a stellar cast of West Coast session musos, notably James Burton, Charlie McCoy, Don “Richie” Frost and Don Randi.