Songwriter Soliloquy

I am a big fan of the documentary. Huge fan. The Fog of War was my favorite movie I've seen so far this year (Yes, I know it was released in 2003), and last week I had to pleasure of watching Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt. Amazing musician. Inspiring songs. Great documentary. If you love music, I can't recommend it enough:



I first learned about Townes Van Zandt from Lyle Lovett. Lovett covered 3 Van Zandt songs on his 1998 release Step Inside This House. Here is a example of Van Zandt's expertly crafted lyrics in Lyle's cover of "Highway Kind."

This movie, this music, this artist have reenergized me towards music, part or whole in a big way. First time director Margaret Brown has crafted a film with a plethora of old footage, cool new shots of Texas roadsides, and hundreds of songs worthy of being called "perfect." Among Townes' more popular songs are "If I Needed You" and "Pancho and Lefty." Legendary.

The most fascinating thing about Van Zandt was that despite his life continually stripped down & bottomed out, dangling on the edge of insanity & failure, the man crafted "perfect" songs. A unique talent for creating perfection coupled with a habit of destroying everything else Van Zandt held dear.