Album Review

When Steve Earle sings the Townes Van Zandt classic “Pancho and Lefty” to kick off his Van Zandt covers/tribute album, Townes, the poignancy is so thick you can practically touch it. After all, you can imagine the two singer/songwriters inhabiting the title roles in the song. In that scenario, Van Zandt would be Pancho, the legendary bandit gunned down before his prime, and Earle would be lefty, who lived outside the law long enough to be abandoned by the federales but now faces the prospect of growing old without his friend.

Listen to “Pancho and Lefty”

Earle once famously bragged about his friend’s songwriting skills by daring that he would say that Van Zandt was the best even in the presence of the Bard himself, Bob Dylan. What better way to prove it than with an album filled with the man’s work? Van Zandt’s songs are a different breed however; he sang without an ounce of ego but with genuine empathy for his sad-sack characters, even the ones who probably didn’t deserve it. And even in the seemingly happy songs, the heartbreak in his voice was unmistakable, giving everything he touched a hint of melancholy.

Earle knows from hard living, so it’s no surprise that he inhabits the shadier members of Van Zandt’s repertoire with ease, particularly on pitch-dark story songs like “Rake” and “Marie.” On “Lungs,” Earle employs some grungy guitar squalls courtesy of Tom Morello, but for the most part the arrangements are acoustic-based and should be. Subtle touches like fiddle, banjo, and harmonium add some flavor, but Earle wisely keeps the spotlight on his old friend’s wry lyrical gifts.

Listen to “Marie”
Listen to “Lungs”

He also gets an assist from his son, budding alt-country artist Justin Townes Earle, on the fast-talking parable “Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold,” and the two nail the duet. Earle falters on some of the slower material though; he just doesn’t possess the kind of vocal instrument his pal had, one which could elicit pathos which just a slight hiccup.

Listen to “Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold”

This is a minor quibble, because Earle deserves credit for devoting an entire CD to this material, which hopefully will earn it the spotlight it never got while Van Zandt was alive. After all, songs like “Pancho & Lefty,” which tells a detailed story better than most novels in three verses and refrains, and “(Quicksilver Daydreams Of) Maria,” with its languid beauty and poetic longing, need no great embellishment. Earle can just get out of the way and be the conduit, and you can see on these tracks why his claims about Van Zandt’s songwriting prowess aren’t so far-fetched.

Listen to “(Quicksilver Daydreams Of) Maria”

On the album closer, “To Live Is To Fly”, Earle sings, “We all got holes to fill/Them holes are all that’s real.” Earle’s expertise in those empty spaces and his insight into what caused them in Van Zandt makes him the perfect fit for this moving tribute.

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