I'll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt

Kris Kristofferson

kris kristofferson The name she gave was Caroline, the daughter of a miner Her ways were free, and it seemed to me the sunshine walked beside her –TVZ, “Tecumseh Valley,” from For the Sake of the Song k risKristofferson,bornJune22,1936,inBrownsville,Texas,has quite an eclectic and impressive resumé that includes Golden Glove boxer, Rhodes scholar, helicopter pilot, and movie star (Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, A Star Is Born, Lone Star, and dozens of others). However, songwriting remains his most potent creative anchor. As a (L-R) Michael Grimes, Kris Kristofferson, author. Four Seasons Hotel, Austin, TX, August 2009. Courtesy Tamara Saviano 38 I’ll Be Here In THe MornInG key figure in the 1970s “Outlaw Country” movement, Kristofferson’s early albums Kristofferson (1970) and The Silver Tongued Devil and I (1971) immediately established him as a top-tier songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, Ray Price, Roger Miller, and many other prominent artists.1 Plainspoken poetry forever unites those kindred spirits, but Kristofferson crafts more cerebral narratives. Unlike most songwriters, he addressed a broad range of social, political, cultural, and personal issues largely taboo in country music at the time that he began writing professionally. Kristofferson has always written in a succinct yet highly nuanced style that is more akin to John Steinbeck than to most Nashville tunesmiths of the early 1970s. Indeed, few writers as fluidly convey human kinetics as Kristofferson does on songs such as “For the Good Times,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).”2 Bynatureanoutsider,KrisKristoffersonoftenwritessongsaboutbetterdaysforthosewhoaredown -and-out(“ShipwreckedintheEighties”) or disenfranchised (“Sandinista”). In fact, these themes of “personal liberty” and the “daily struggle of the dispossessed” are so common in his work that Kristofferson’s long-time friend and guitarist Stephen Bruton once reportedly told him, “If you take freedom and sidewalks out of your show, you’d be speechless.”3 In his song “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33,” Kristofferson may have been referring directly to Johnny Cash and actor Dennis Hopper, but he just as well could have been describing Townes Van Zandt. “He’s a pilgrim and a preacher and a problem when he’s stoned,” Kristofferson sings. “He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction / Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.”4 As Kristofferson himself said, “I heard so much about Townes from Mickey Newbury, who was really serious about songwriting. He said Townes was the best, and that included Mickey and me, so I figured he was serious.”5 As a songwriter, Kris Kristofferson has earned commercial success mainly through others performing his songs. Perhaps most notable of krIS krISToFFerSon 39 these was fellow Texan Janis Joplin’s version of “Me and Bobby McGee,” fromher1971albumPearl.ThesongbecameaposthumoushitforJoplin, a personal friend of Kristofferson, and provided the hippie generation with a resonant mantra: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”6 Some music critics also consider Sammi Smith’s rendition of “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (1970) the greatest all-time country single and place Ray Price’s version of “For the Good Times” (1970) above Willie Nelson’s classic interpretation of Fred Rose’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” (1975).7 According to Don Was, who has worked with Kristofferson for years and produced his recent albums This Old Road (2006) and Closer to the Bone (2009), “there isn’t a songwriter out there today who hasn’t been influenced by Kris. He’s a giant.”8 • • • kris kristofferson The first time I met Townes was when we were filming Songwriter, which was that film Alan Rudolph directed with Willie Nelson and me. We were filming in Austin, and I got the word that Townes was out there Townes Van Zandt in field (1970s), courtesy Al Clayton 40 I’ll Be Here In THe MornInG in the audience as an extra. Alan let me do this introduction of him, as a “songwriter’s songwriter.” He kept it in the movie. I remember when Townes stood up, when I introduced him, I could see, it was so sad to see, that he had no idea of the respect that so many had for him. I don’t know why that was, but I just thought that somebody should tellthisguyhowgoodheis.Hewassopleasedjusttoberecognized,and it was obvious to me that he hadn’t gotten the feedback that I...