Published on Sep 29, 2004
One of the problems of posthumous releases is the intention of
the album’s producer. For many, the lure of money is the prime
reason to mine whatever unreleased tracks he or she can get from an
artist and hopefully, there will be enough material to merit an
album. Pay no mind to continuity or uniformity. In many unfortunate
cases, this material is usually studio rejects — material the
artist intentionally left out during the recording process.
There are exceptions. And in the case of
In the Beginning, the results are the stuff of rock
folklore. John Lomax III, with the help of Jeanene Van Zandt, were
able to locate a collection of songs from the late
singer/songwriter, Townes Van Zandt — recorded in 1966. Two years
later, Townes would record his debut album.
The collection, a scrappy, sparse 33-minute blast of
stripped-down folk/blues and rock, were heavily influenced by Hank
Williams, but also drew on contemporaries at that time, especially
Bob Dylan. The imagery in “Black Jack Mama” is unmistakably urban:
“Big blonde mama, lord, Apartment 213 / Moves like a cobra snake
and she treats me like a king / Roll me over easy mama, roll me
over slow.” However, the barren imagery and poverty of his
country/rockabilly influences is fluid in songs like “Colorado
Bound”: “It’s a mighty lonesome feeling, listening to the
wind-a-howlin’ / Watchin’ raindrops come-a-fallin’ to the pavement
outside your door.”
There isn’t much variety into Van Zandt’s music.
In the Beginning was recorded while Van Zandt was absorbing
the Texas folk circuit. Part counter-culture ’60s psychedelia, part
homage to populist heroes of country music past, Van Zandt was able
to use his voice and his stunning songwriting skills to fuse these
two paths into his own.
Townes would go on to influence both the “roots” rockers of the
’80s and the alt-country artists of the ’90s and today. The gritty
imagery of his subjects and his weary, but strong voice is laid out
bare in this release. The only qualm about the album is it ends way
too early; it could almost qualify as an EP. However, in this case,
the producers didn’t have much control in the matter — they were
left with what Townes had recorded. According to the liner notes,
Townes Van Zandt pled to Jeanene “Find these songs. I know I
recorded them, they’re somewhere.” Fortunately, for him, and
especially for us, these recordings were not lost.