Tecumseh Valley

Townes Van Zandt was a talented man who wrote beautiful songs. I own some guitars and recording equipment and have a lot of spare time. Here I embarrass myself and denigrate Van Zandt's legacy by attempting to cover him. But I did add a string arrangement!

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posted by inoculatedcities (9 comments total)

Townes Van Zandt is one of my favorite songwriters. That said, I think you've done a great job with this song. The strings are really a nice touch.
posted by sleepy pete at 8:00 AM on April 8, 2007

Thanks for the kind words, sleepy pete. I'm of the mind that even if I don't like my singing or playing, if I keep doing it for twenty years at least I'll keep improving. If you check out my other songs you'll notice that most of my musical experience involves synthesizers and samplers and my only real skill is in arranging. It's fun to record anyway.

Have you seen the Townes movie Be Here to Love Me yet? I recently ordered it because I've been listening to him so obsessively lately; have heard the documentary is quite good.
posted by inoculatedcities at 10:28 AM on April 8, 2007

Bah, that "yet" doesn't belong in the title or link, obviously. Heh. I didn't have my coffee this morning.
posted by inoculatedcities at 10:28 AM on April 8, 2007

I have seen the documentary and I liked it, although it's a bit depressing, Townes being a self-obsessed junkie and all. There are some great clips of him singing his songs. There's also one of his son (I believe it's on the extras portion) singing "Nothing" that's heartbreaking. For comedy, watch Devendra Banhart singing one of Towne's songs. It'll help lift your mood after the documentary (and I do believe the comedy is unintentional).
posted by sleepy pete at 10:56 AM on April 8, 2007

I stopped in to listen in. Thanks for covering one of my favs. I like the Nanci Griffith version, too.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 12:07 PM on April 8, 2007

Like this a lot, nicely understated performance and well recorded too!
posted by TwoWordReview at 4:07 PM on April 8, 2007

Wow, why have you been hiding that voice? Really, really great singing, I mean it. I'd love to hear more stuff you sing on.
posted by chococat at 7:38 PM on April 8, 2007

Thanks for all the encouraging comments! I'll definitely be posting some of my original tunes in the future.

chococat: Thank you for such a nice compliment. It's so hard for me to understand -- I think everyone hates the sound of their own voice. Must be designed in by evolution. But golly...awful nice of you to say.
posted by inoculatedcities at 2:41 PM on April 9, 2007

You have a beautiful voice that shows no sign of straining in any way, it's very natural. Great performance.
posted by edlundart at 10:20 AM on April 11, 2007