John Townes van Zandt   [1944-1997]

His contemporaries called John Townes Van Zandt, known as Townes Van Zandt, one of the best country-folk song writers that ever lived. Three of his outstanding songs are, “To Live is to Fly”, “If I Needed You”, and ”No Place to Fall”. An article in the Wall Street Journal referred to Van Zandt as an iconic singer-songwriter from Texas. The organization, Allmusic has called him, “One of the greatest artists of his generation”. The stories he sang were about wandering and yearning, and he was revered among his singer-song writer peers and his numerous fans all over the world.

Van Zandt was more than just a song writer. He was also known as a poet, a musician, an arranger, a producer and a performer. Unfortunately, he never made it big as a musical performer. Although he had a devoted fan base, he typically performed to small audiences. Much of his lack of success may be attributed to his life style, a life style which tended to be destructive to his health and to his talents as a performer.

But Van Zandt’s life style had little negative impact on his performance as a song writer, and his songs were performed by such notables as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and other notable performers. In 1983, Nelson and Haggard covered Van Zandt’s song, “Pancho and Lefty”, and scored a number one hit on the Billboard country music charts.

Following his death in 1997, there has been a resurgence of interest in Van Zandt. During that first decade of the twenty first century two books, a documentary film, and a number of magazine articles about Van Zandt have been created. In 2010, the Wall Street Journal had an article about a tour by the Israeli balladeer, David Broza, and his album entitled, “Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt”. Broza and Van Zandt had shared a stage in Houston, Texas in 1994, three years before Van Zandt’s death, and the Broza tour and album were recognition of the poetic contributions Van Zandt had made.

Other well known performers who have brought van Zandt’s songs and poetry alive are Emmylou Harris, Don Williams, Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, Norah Jones, Steve Earle, the Cowboy Junkies and the Meat Puppets.

Van Zandt was born in Fort Worth, Texas in a wealthy family which had been able to benefit from the oil boom in Texas. The Van Zandts had been long time Texas residents. Townes Van Zandt’s great grandfather, Isaac Van Zandt, was a prominent leader of the Republic of Texas. Townes’ parents were Harris Williams Van Zandt [1913-1966] and Dorothy Townes [?-1983]. Harris Van Zandt was a corporate attorney, and his career required the family to move numerous times during the time Townes grew up.

Because of the many moves, his parents gave Townes the option to attend the Shattuck School, a private high school, in Faribault, Minnesota. He chose to attend the private school because it would give him some stability during his high school years. He graduated from the Faribault school in 1962, and was accepted by the University of Colorado, Boulder for the start of the 1962 semester. During his last year in high school he recorded a SAT test score of 1170. So as a result he had little problem to enter a good university.

Apparently, Townes had a good first year at the University of Colorado. But during his sophomore year his parents had to bring him home to Houston, Texas, because he had bouts of binge drinking and episodes of depression. Back home in Texas he was diagnosed with manic depression, and underwent three months of insulin shock therapy. He apparently recovered to the point where he was able to be accepted by the University of Houston’s pre law program in 1965. But the therapy apparently did not cure him, and he quit college in 1967, and decided to pursue a career in music.

Van Zandt started performing in the Jester Lounge in Houston with other performers. He was modestly successful. But his father, in 1966, the year of his death, realized that Townes had talent for song writing, and encouraged him to try writing his own songs. His peers encouraged him to move to Nashville, Tennessee because that environment was more suitable for a song writer than Houston, Texas.

Van Zandt clearly had talent as a song writer, because the period from 1968 to 1973 turned out to be his most prolific era as a song writer. He released five albums during that time period consisting of “Our Mother, the Mountain”, “Townes Van Zandt”, “Delta Momma Blues”, “High, Low and in Between”, and “The Late Great Townes Van Zandt”. Among the tracks written for these albums were “For the Sake of the Song”, “To Live’s to Fly”, “Tecumseh Valley”, and “Pancho and Lefty”. The songs contained in these albums would raise Van Zandt to near-legendary status in American and European song writing circles.

With the encouragement of his song writing success and the fact that his early songs gave him worldwide recognition, he continued his output of songs and poetry for the remainder of his rather brief life. He also continued to perform, but his musical performances were never at a level to give him the status he achieved through his song writing.

Not surprisingly, Van Zandt’s personal family life was quite rocky. While he was in the middle of his depression therapy, he married his first wife, Fran Petters in August 1965. The couple had a son, John Townes Van Zandt II, born on April 11, 1969. Unfortunately, the baby’s birth was also the end of the marriage. The couple divorced in January of the following year, 1970.

Van Zandt’s second marriage was to Cindy Morgan in 1978, after having lived together for four years. That marriage lasted only two years but the marriage was not dissolved until1983. There were no children in the second marriage.

Van Zandt’s third and last marriage was to Jeanene Munsell in 1983, only ten days before Munsell gave birth to their first son, William Vincent. Having been married twice before may have given Van Zandt the experience and endurance to stay married longer. Their second child, a daughter, Katie Belle, was born in 1992. Van Zandt’s third marriage unfortunately also did not last. The couple divorced in 1994, but the two remained close until the death of Van Zandt in 1997. Following his death, Jeanene Munsell became the executor of the Estate of Townes Van Zandt.

Van Zandt’s Dutch ancestors went back numerous generations. His great great great great grandfather was Jacob Van Zandt, Sr. who was born in the Netherlands, probably in the central part of the country where sandy soil was quite common. Jacob Van Zandt, Sr. came with the Moravian colony, which settled in Pennsylvania and later moved to the state of North Carolina. Townes great great grandfather, Isaac Van Zandt was born in Franklin County, Tennessee, but moved to Texas during his life time. His descendants remained in Texas for the subsequent generations.

During the last two weeks of his life Townes van Zandt fell down the concrete stairs outside his home. He injured his back and neck and was only able to move about in a wheel chair. Surgery to repair the surgery was done on December 31, 1996. He was taken home, against the advice of his physician on the same day. But the surgical shock and the medications he was taking, and the weak condition he was in, apparently all contributed to his death the next day, January 1, 1997.

 

REFERENCES

Jurgensen, John, “A Strange Musical Bequest”, “Night Dawn: An Israeli Balladeer Transforms the Legacy of Townes Van Zandt”, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, February 19, 2010, p.W2.

Also the web sites of “Wikipedia” and of “Sweetlyrics”.

 

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