My introduction to TVZ was via covers by
Nate Hall (US Christmas) and Wino. I thought their versions were quite potent
and powerful. I then acquired the 4CD
box set with his early material (68-77) and quite enjoyed some of this so I was
interested to read this book, written by his tour manager and pretty much his
best friend. Harold, or H as Townes called him, spend 20 crazy years with
Townes travelling all over the world and many many hours in cars and hotels
crisscrossing the USA. Townes just lived
his life as he pleased and no one could really take him off his own plan in
life. He was very religious and had a lot of trauma in his teenage life and
electroshock therapy when his parents had him locked up in a mental
institution, as they were not happy with his life choices. This had really fucked him up for life. His songs really did come from demons and
ghosts that he thought were very real.
His life style was tough, surviving mainly on vodka, orange soda, cigs,
coffee, and toast. He rarely ate much food or slept more than a few hours a
night. It was a tough life and he was worn out and like a man in his 70s or 80s
when he was only 50! This book has a lot
of crazy and very interesting stories.
Just a fantastic book. I loved it a lot.  |
| (Borrowed from his bandcamp site) |
It is more or less chronological and also
includes quite a bit about the author as well, as he and Townes were tightly
bonded together. It was interesting to
find out that he never was on a major record label. He was never quite folky
enough for the Dylan fans, bluesy enough for the die hard blues fans or poppy
enough for mainstream country music ,so during his life, was always
struggling. Sadly, the week before he
died, he was making his major label debut album (Geffen) with the drummer from
Sonic Youth and some other musicians but just could not pull it together and
they lost patience with him. Harold had
warned them that this was the way he worked. Lots of chaos and then the magic..
but they were not patient enough and he died.. Never made that record.. Pity…
Excellent book with an extensive discography at the end and quite a few
very nice pictures in color.
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