hate to repeat myself but i just must.

"the blues ain't nothin but what you feel. don't count no bars, don't get 'teck,' just listen to what the man says... a blues singer has to stretch out. each time he sings a particular blues, he may change the lyrics or stretch out differently. the important thing is -- listen to what the man say. i don't mean the modern blues singer but one from the old, one who accompanied himself with guitar, harmonica, washboard or any other instrument that helped him tell his story. such a blues singer" is what townes van zandt wanted to be but ultimately he transcended that; just like dylan did or hank williams did or john lee hooker (i got the first part from the liner notes of one of his albums) or like how kerouac transcended past being a novelist. these people, artist, somehoe manage to show an eternal truth through opening themselves up; they shine a light into the dark so we know we too can leave it behind; they help us realize that even at our most lonesome we're not so alone after all. but townes, in particular, seemed to reach deeper into that dark than most. he's hellbent on finding out whatever he can about who he is or why he's here...fuck that he knew why he was here. that was simple: to write songs. but what to do with the rest of his life? that's what made him mad or sane or whothehellknows. but these two discs of music opened my eyes wider than they have every been to, what i've heard called, the "human condition." and the most exciting thing about the whole god damn deal is that as i have grown (but how much can you really in a few short years?) the songs grow more full of truth, wit, honesty, you fucking name it. as the liner notes to the album declare "all he did was sing your life beautifully" or something to that affect.

i don't wanna ruin or disrupt any of the insight about the little things that music freaks seem to dig when they really know any album. townes would never discourage personal insight i don't think so just listen to the man, hear what he has to say and how he says it. but i will let you in on one of my favorite "hidden gems" on this bad boy: on the opening track "announcement" hear how certain audience members start to yell out everything the announcer says before he does because they heard it "five or six times already" that night. also look the lyrics up. i'll do it for you




this is a review for the album live at the old quarter that a i wrote for a girl who, as tvz said or continues to do so, i loved "but she did not know it/ i don't think about her anymore."