Townes Van Zandt: Fort Worth’s Lonesome Poet

Today is the birthday of Townes Van Zandt. He would be 83 today.

John Townes Van Zandt was born in Fort Worth, Texas on March 7, 1944, into a family that had given the city its name — the Van Zandts were Texas founders. He grew up wealthy and restless, studying law briefly, then falling into music with the seriousness of someone who knew he’d never do anything else. He settled in Houston in the early 1960s and started playing the folk circuit. His songs arrived fully formed, as if they’d been there all along waiting to be uncovered.

The Songwriter Other Songwriters Measure Against

“Pancho and Lefty” is one of the great American songs. Emmylou Harris recorded it. Then Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard took it to No. 1 in 1983 — the only No. 1 hit of Merle Haggard’s career. “If I Needed You,” “To Live Is to Fly,” “Waitin’ Around to Die” — each one a small, perfect storm. Steve Earle said Van Zandt was “the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” Van Zandt died January 1, 1997, in Smyrna, Tennessee. The songs are still accumulating weight. Learn more at the Texas State Historical Association.