Honky Tonk Highway

. . . who would have had his 63rd birthday yesterday if'n fate'n other things hadn't blocked his troubled path on New Year's Day ten years ago.

Initially, I had a lot of difficulty listening to Townes Van Zandt singing his own songs. After persevering for a couple of years, something clicked within ME and he's now become one of my most cherished and played singer/songwriters.

A biography, To Live's to Fly - The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt, has recently been released and, by all accounts, it's a damn good read. If you feel like chasing an out and out enigma around the spiked musical sphere he lived in, this could be for you. Here's a brief review:

To Live's to Fly
The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt
by John Kruth

The first-ever biography of the elusive and influential musician
whose tragic life became the stuff of legend. Includes 40 rare photographs. To Live’s to Fly is the bracing, fully authorized biography of singer-songwriter-guitarist Townes Van Zandt (1944–1997), who wrote such classic songs as If I Needed You and Waitin’ ’round to Die

Born to a wealthy oil family in Ft. Worth, hounded by alcoholism and unshakable depression, Van Zandt pursued an often nomadic existence on the fringes of society. Along the way, he composed a striking body of work simultaneously heartbreaking in its beauty and terrifying in its willingness to go to the darkest of places. His songs were covered by such artists as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard (who scored a No. l hit duetting on Van Zandt’s signature tune Pancho and Lefty), Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, Nanci Griffith, the Cowboy Junkies, Tindersticks, and Mudhoney.

John Kruth has interviewed nearly everyone who was close to Townes Van Zandt, including his best friend, songwriter Guy Clark; musical colleagues like Steve Earle, John Prine, Rodney Crowell, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Jerry Jeff Walker; as well as his ex-wives and children. What emerges is the portrait of a tremendously intelligent and charismatic man with a warm sense of humor and a generous nature...and an unstoppable inclination toward self-destruction. Van Zandt lived life on his own terms - and died of a heart attack on New Year’s Day, the same day his idol, Hank Williams, died forty-four years earlier.

To Live’s to Fly is the compelling story of a generation of truly outlaw country artists, one that captures all the humor, hijinks, poetry, and heartbreak of this most revered of songwriters.

“A fervent tribute to a true legend of American songwriting. John Kruth has tracked the back
story of Townes Van Zandt like a manic bloodhound without spoiling the mystery of the man.”
-- Sam Shepard

“...[a] detail- laden yet very readable book that well might revive Van Zandt’s memory.” --Booklist

About the Author:

John Kruth is a songwriter and musician with eight albums to his credit. He is the author of Bright Moments: The Life and Legacy of Rashaan Roland Kirk. He lives in New York City.