Description
Release Date: 2008
Label: Fat Possum Records
Track List
Disc One
1 Announcement 0:45
2 Pancho & Lefty 4:08
3 Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold 3:41
4 Don’t You Take It Too Bad 2:58
5 Two Girls 3:52
6 Fraternity Blues 3:08
7 If I Needed You 3:19
8 Brand New Companion 4:20
9 White Freight Liner Blues 3:26
10 To Live Is To Fly 3:21
11 She Came And She Touched Me 4:10
12 Talking Thunderbird Blues 2:33
13 Rex’s Blues 3:05
14 Nine Pound Hammer 3:06
Disc Two
1 For The Sake Of The Song 4:49
2 Chauffeur’s Blues 4:33
3 No Place To Fall 3:09
4 Loretta 2:27
5 Kathleen 2:55
6 Why She’s Acting That Way 5:43
7 Cocaine Blues 3:21
8 Who Do You Love 3:45
9 Tower Song 3:48
10 Waiting ‘Round To Die 2:35
11 Tecumseh Valley 4:30
12 Lungs 2:34
13 Only Him Or Me 2:43
Notes
Van Zandt could work magic in front of an audience under the right circumstances, and while a wealth of live recordings of Van Zandt have emerged since his passing on the first day of 1997, Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas ranks with the very best of his concert albums. Live at the Old Quarter is simple and spare, capturing Van Zandt in a 1973 solo performance at a Houston saloon with just his acoustic guitar for company, and the engineering ably captures the ambience of the room, with the audience clearly caught up in the spell of these songs. The set features 26 songs, all originals except for covers of “Cocaine Blues,” “Nine Pound Hammer,” and “Who Do You Love,” and Van Zandt brigs these tunes to life with an easy grace that’s a striking complement to the emotional gravity of his lyrics, though he also gives his lighter side an airing here, occasionally cracking jokes and offering a pair of funny talking blues numbers, “Talking Thunderbird Blues” and “Fraternity Blues.” If the renditions of “Pancho & Lefty,” “If I Needed You,” “Rex’s Blues,” “For the Sake of the Song,” and “Tecumseh Valley” aren’t quite definitive, they’re beautiful and affecting, and thanks to the sharp performances, on-point vocals, and superb set list, this is a superior document of Townes Van Zandt on-stage, and is a fine introduction to his body of work.
