For the Sake of the Song: Essays on Townes Van Zandt ed. by Anne Norton Holbrook and Dan Bellar-McKenna (review)

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• For the Sake of the Song: Essays on Townes Van Zandt ed. by Anne Norton Holbrook and Dan Bellar-McKenna
• Joe W. Specht

For the Sake of the Song: Essays on Townes Van Zandt. Ed. By Anne Norton Holbrook and Dan Bellar-McKenna. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2022. Pp. 222. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.)

When Fort Worth native Townes Van Zandt died of a heart attack at age 52 in 1997, he already had a devoted following. In the twenty-five years since his passing, the awareness of his talents has continued to swell far beyond the Red River and Rio Grande. The subject of two biographies plus documentaries, tribute albums, and the like, Van Zandt's catalog is available via music streaming services and back in print on 180-gram vinyl. Sacred Bones, a specialty label, has even released six of his early albums on 8-track tape, much to the delight of retrogradehipsters.

And now there is For the Sake of the Song: Essays on Townes Van Zandt. In the editors' words, an "eclectic collection … intended [not] only for scholars [but also for] enthusiasts of Van Zandt and the modern singer-songwriter tradition." (p. 6). Indeed, Townes is an exemplar, the personification, if you will, of the modern singer-songwriter … with a distinctive Texan flavor. Not to be forgotten is the romanticized public image of the tragic troubadour whose personal demons inspired his art while at the same time enabling the substance abuse that resulted in his death.

The chapters in the collection are wide-ranging. Brian T. Atkinson provides a succinct overview of Van Zandt's recorded legacy, along with a brief review of books and films on the subject. Robert Earl Hardy focuses on Townes as "poetic songwriter" and the diverse influences on his work ranging from Robert Frost to Lightnin' Hopkins. Ann Norton Holbrook deconstructs the role that gender plays in several of Van Zandt's compositions. And Jim Clark takes a similar literary approach in his chapter, "Macabre and Mirth."

In separate chapters, musicologists Dan Beller-McKenna, Nathan Fleshner, and Travis D. Stimeling probe Van Zandt's oeuvre within the context of minor and major modal scales, its rhythmic and metric complexity, and the use of 1960's pop production practices on the early albums. Blase S. Scarnati explores how Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard's version of the Van Zandt classic, "Pancho and Lefty," and accompanying [End Page 375] music video added another dimension to appreciating the spirit of the song.

Bruce Quaglia examines Van Zandt's history of mental illness, comparing it with two other similarly-affected legends of the Austin music scene, Daniel Johnston and Roky Erickson. And in the final chapter, Norie Guthrie selects Van Zandt-related episodes from Richard Dobson's memoir, The Gulf Coast Boys (1998), that offer examples of the excitement (and frustration) of touring with Townes.

The bibliography is impressive, although several entries cited in the text/notes have slipped through the cracks; none more so than Tamara Saviano's Without Getting Killed or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark (1998). The index is not without its own odd omissions, too. For example, Hardy, Van Zandt's biographer who is also a contributor, is mentioned in other chapters but missing in the index. The quibbles of a librarian aside, For the Sake of the Song: Essays on Townes Van Zandt can take its rightful place on the shelf, a welcome addition to the ever-growing assemblage of Van Zandt commentaries. [End Page 376]

Joe W. Specht McMurry University (Emeritus) Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association ...