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

Steve Young

Steve Young. Courtesy www.steveyoung.net Steve young If I had no place to fall and I needed to Could I count on you to lay me down? –TVZ, “No Place to Fall,” from Flyin’ Shoes S teve Young, born July 12, 1942, in Newnan, Georgia, appears tobeskimmedoverinmanycountrymusiccompendiums,but the singer-songwriter played a key role in the Outlaw Country movement of the 1970s. His debut album Rock, Salt & Nails (1969), which features prominent guests such as legendary country-rock singers Gram Parsons and The Byrds’ Gene Clark, established Young as a rising song- 70 I’ll Be Here In THe MornInG writing talent.1 His following album Seven Bridges Road (1972) includes Young’stwomostwidelyknownhits—“SevenBridgesRoad”and“Lonesome , On’ry and Mean.” Several major artists, including Rita Coolidge, Joan Baez, Dolly Parton, and Alan Jackson, recorded “Seven Bridges Road.” However, the popular Southern California country-rock band The Eagles had the most success with their up-tempo version of the tune on the double-LP Eagles Live (1980).2 Perhaps more importantly, Waylon Jennings’s gritty reading of “Lonesome, On’ry and Mean” became one of the Outlaw Country movement’s primary calling cards. Jennings quickly became an outspoken supporter of the songwriter. “Young is the second greatest country music singer, [next] to George Jones, of course,” he said. “[Young] has no earthly idea how great he is.”3 YounglikelywasheartenedbyJennings’sfocusonhisskillsasasinger rather than as a songwriter. “One thing I don’t like about songwriters is that a lot of them can’t sing and play,” Young says. “I like songwriters interpreting songs, which maybe was more fashionable in the 1960s and 1970s. It takes a musician to do that.”4 Accordingly, Young provided groundwork for the albums Honky Tonk Man (1975) and Renegade Picker (1976)withanequalmeasureoforiginals(“AlabamaHighway”and“Old Memories”)andinterpretations(HankWilliams’s“Ramblin’Man,”Guy Clark’s “Broken Hearted People”). Two years later, Young employed Townes Van Zandt’s song “No Place to Fall” as the title track to his final album for RCA Records. For years, Steve Young shared Van Zandt’s view that excessive drug and alcohol use was necessary to become a “tortured artist.” In fact, one writer claims “Lonesome, On’ry and Mean” could “easily be the title of [Young’s] autobiography,” considering his battles “against the music businessandhisownpersonaldemons.”5 Youngstruggledwithdrugand alcohol addiction throughout the 1970s, but he achieved sobriety soon after releasing No Place to Fall near the end of the decade. Young credits heightened spirituality with helping him make the lifestyle transition. “There’s a lot of dark and brilliant humor that comes out of places you STeVe younG 71 can’t go unless you’re drunk or loaded,” he says. “In my opinion, a lot of musicians have problems with drinking because of self-image. Buddhism helped break me free of that.”6 Steve Young reinvented himself personally and professionally during the 1980s and released To Satisfy You (1981), Look Homeward Angel (1986), and Long Time Rider (1990) on a series of small record labels. He recorded the critically acclaimed albums Solo/Live (1991) and Switchblades of Love (1993)onWatermelonRecordsaftermovingtoAustin,Texas,intheearly 1990s. The latter was named the year’s best folk album at the Nashville Music Awards in 1995.7 The previous year, the small Australian record label Raven Records released a greatest hits collection appropriately titled Lonesome, On’ry and Mean: Steve Young, 1968–1978. • • • Steve young I met Townes at Guy Clark’s house out in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. We used to hang out more in those days, which was probably in the 1970s. Townes and I always had a contentious relationship. We’d argue or debate things about history or what kind of person I was. We got into an argument, and Guy was sort of the referee. Townes was like that. He’d antagonize and stir up things, and he liked to do that. Nevertheless, we became friends and were friends as time went by. Nashville never wanted real artists. It’s a hyped town without any originalitytooffer,andithaslittleregardforpeopleexceptafterthefact. I don’t know how that applies to the old guys who I grew up with, like Marty Robbins, but Nashville is one of the toughest towns for people who write real, quality, heartfelt songs, and Townes was writing real life-and-death stuff. People like that were ignored as a rule, but the group of guys in Heartworn Highways were the exception. Looking at it, you...