Name: Sky Blue
Brand: Townes Van Zandt

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

FP17061

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

11 unreleased recordings

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2019-03-07

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Orchard

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

767981170619

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Total Cap

Black LP

Artist

Townes Van Zandt

Genre US

Country 

Label US

Fat Possum

Townes Van Zandt was a renowned folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet. Born on March 7, 1944 in Fort Worth, Texas, he left an indelible mark on the music industry with his heartfelt lyrics and soulful melodies.
Throughout his career, Townes Van Zandt captivated audiences with his raw and authentic storytelling. His songs delved into themes of love, loss, and the human condition, resonating deeply with listeners from all walks of life.
Tragically, Townes Van Zandt passed away on January 1, 1997 due to cardiac arrhythmia at his home in Smyrna, Tennessee. Despite his untimely death, his musical legacy lives on as a testament to his immense talent and profound impact on the folk music genre.

These tracks will sound both fresh and familiar to even the most avid fans. Sky Blue includes eleven unreleased recordings made in early 1973 with the late Bill Hedgepeth, a journalist, musician, and most crucially a close friend of Townes. The singer-songwriter was splitting his time between Texas, Colorado, and a shack outside Franklin, Tennessee: an itinerant life that informed many of his most famous and beloved tunes. Throughout his life he would often return to Hedgepeth’s home studio in Atlanta, later with family in tow, to record, re-work, and experiment with new songs as well as old favorites.

These versions of “Pancho and Lefty” and “Rex’s Blues” show these songs as early drafts: raw, sorrowful, and as stunningly moving as he ever was, full of clean flat-picking and adept flourishes in just the right places. He emerges as a master of economic songwriting and playing, providing all that’s needed and nothing more, confident that his ideas and emotions would come through more clearly for being so judiciously understated.

In addition to a handful of old favorites, Sky Blue also includes two new songs that have never been heard before—”All I Need” and “Sky Blue”—as well as covers of songs by Richard Dobson and Tom Paxton. There is a smoky version of “Blue Ridge Mountain Blues” and a scarred and scarring interpretation of “Hills of Roane County,” an East Tennessee murder ballad from the 1880s that was popularized by Tony Rice. Van Zandt performs them deftly, sings them intuitively, and displays his delightfully twisted sense of humor on the devious “Snake Song” and the vicious “Dream Spider.”

Conceived by Townes’ surviving family—his wife and literary executor Jeanene, along with his children, J.T., Will, and Katie Bell—Sky Blue sounds like an entirely new album rather than a reissue of old recordings. That’s how urgent and invigorated these performances sound, offering a revealing glimpse into Townes’ process, the evolution of his songs as well as the myriad versions he had in his head.

Sky Blue

Music US

Buy Townes Van Zandt - Sky Blue (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.