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

Shawn Camp

Shawn Camp Ah, the sculptor stands stricken, and the artist he throws away his brushes When her image comes dancing, the sun she turns sullen with shame –TVZ, “Quicksilver Daydreams of Maria,” from Townes Van Zandt S hawn Camp, born August 29, 1966, near Perryville, Arkansas, has achieved significant commercial success as a songwriter for mainstream country artists. Most notably, the longtime Nashville resident has cowritten Number One hits for superstars such Shawn Camp, (L-R) Tamara Saviano, Lloyd Maines, Verlon Thompson, Terri Hendrix, Shawn Camp, Jen Gunderman, Glen Fukunaga. Cedar Creek Recording, Austin, TX, January 4, 2011 94 I’ll Be Here In THe MornInG as Garth Brooks (“Two Piña Coladas”), Brooks and Dunn (“How Long Gone”), George Strait (“River of Love”), and Josh Turner (“Would You Go with Me”), as well as several other songs recorded by artists including Tracy Byrd (“Can’t Have One Without the Other”), Blake Shelton (“Nobody But Me”), and Randy Travis (“A Little Bitty Crack in Her Heart”).1 Camp himself charted the singles “Fallin’ Never Felt So Good” and “Confessin’ My Love” from his self-titled debut (1993), which he followed with an Emory Gordy Jr.–produced album that Warner Bros. swiftly shelved. “The label said it didn’t sound like the latest hit,” Camp says. “They wanted me to change everything. Told me to take all the fiddles and Dobros off and put electric guitars on. I got crossways and never did it.”2 Around that time, Shawn Camp began writing with Townes Van Zandt’s closest friend, Guy Clark. The pair’s creative partnership has producedarguablysomeofClark’smostmemorableworksincetheturn of the millennium (such as “Sis Draper,” “Magnolia Wind,” and “Maybe I Can Paint over That”). “Shawn sings, plays, and writes up there in the fine, rarified air where very few can breathe,” Clark says. “It’s a joy to behold.”3 ”I have always thought Shawn should be a star,” says “Cowboy ” Jack Clement, the legendary producer (Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Townes Van Zandt, among others), songwriter (Cash’s “Ballad of a Teenage Queen,” “Guess Things Happen That Way”), and longtime mentor to Shawn Camp. “He’s got the talent, the voice, and the looks to do it.”4 Meanwhile, Camp released the critically acclaimed solo albums Lucky SilverDollar(2001),LiveattheStationInn(2004),andFireball(2006),aswell as The Bluegrass Elvises, Vol. 1 with singer and songwriter Billy Burnette (2007).5 Amulti-instrumentalistwhohasplayedfiddle,guitar,andmandolinasasidemanforAlanJackson ,TrishaYearwood,SuzyBogguss,and Clark, Camp also performs with The World Famous Headliners, a band that includes fellow songwriters Al Anderson and Pat McLaughlin. “There’s this sly, underlying sexiness to Shawn’s songwriting that I dig,” says current Warner Music Nashville President John Esposito.6 SHAwn CAMP 95 Esposito’sappreciationrecentlyrewardedCamp’sartisticvision.Sixteen years under dust, the label released Camp’s previously untitled album as 1994 (2010).7 The collection includes high-profile collaborations with bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe (“Worn Through Stone”), celebrated Dobro player Jerry Douglas (“Little Bitty Crack in Her Heart”), and singer Patty Loveless (“In Harm’s Way”), as well as the earliest Camp and Clark collaboration, “Stop, Look and Listen (Cow Catcher Blues),” whichincludesvividimageryasengines“groan”andsteelrails“poplike a broken heart.”8 “Writing with Guy Clark is a lesson in honesty,” says Camp, who served as recording session bandleader on the album This One’s for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark (2011). “Every line cuts to the bone, and he’s not afraid of truth. It’s a good lesson.”9 Camp ran in the same circles as Townes Van Zandt in the 1990s, but thetwoneverformallymet.Still,VanZandt’smusichashadasignificant impactonCamp.“Townes’sstuffisaboveandbeyondtheabilityofmost Nashvillesongwriters,”hesays.“He’sgotahugepileofincrediblesongs that speak for themselves.”10 • • • Shawn Camp IwasatthesameWholeDamnFamilyChristmasshowasToddSnider.It wasatJoe’sVillageInninNashville,suchablurofdrinkingandallkinds of wild stuff. I remember that night Guy and Townes and quite a crowd were back behind the stage shooting craps. When I was onstage, which is like five or six inches off the floor, Guy and Townes were shitfaced, standing directly in front of me. Guy was smoking a cigarette. I played a solo, and in the middle of it Guy reached out and flicked his cigarette ashesrightonmyfiddletop.Evidently,Ilaughedaboutit,whichistotally unlike me, and he later said, “I liked you from then on.” So, Guy and I started writing together. At that point, though, I was youngenoughandtoointimidatedbythatcrowdtogetintothemix.They were kind of heroes to me. I always knew about Townes and that he was 96 I’ll Be Here In THe MornInG around. For...