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Townes Van Zandt CBG Tribute Album - Your Submissions needed

Hey, y'all!

Townes Van Zandt (1944 - 1997) was a Texas singer-songwriter-poet, whose music has touched a deep chord (pun intended) amongst many of us here at CBN. No, he's not related, except perhaps very distantly, to those other musical Van Zandt boys many of us also love. Townes was hailed, back in 1985 by none other than another gifted songwriter, Steve Earle, as "the greatest songwriter in the world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that!" Whether or not you agree with ol' Steve, there is a deep knowledge of the blues, heartache, pain and melancholy in Townes' songs. For those of you unfamiliar with his work, please visit his estate's website to get to know him better (all proceeds go to support his children and his second wife, Jeanene):

https://townesvanzandt.com/

Several of us here at CBN (myself, Uncle John, Turtlehead, and maybe some others I haven't seen or heard - I know the owner of Diamondbackguitarshop and beStillroy are also huge fans) have done videos of us playing our versions of Townes' songs, many of which came out nearly 40 years ago. We realized that the CBG may be the perfect instrument on which to reinterpret and breathe new life into Townes' songs. In fact, we've been kicking the idea around in the Comment section of Uncle John's video rendition of "Flying Shoes" for the last coupla weeks (check it out), and came up with the idea for a tribute album, using only CBGs (I know, I know: Townes never played one, to my knowledge, and I and perhaps many others of you learned "Pancho and Lefty" on a 6-stringer, but still...).

So, if you're still with me, we're looking for MP3 submissions from those who play Townes' songs, wanna try 'em on CBG, may have never heard of him but like what they hear - any and all are welcome. His catalogue is pretty deep, so I'd like to lay claim to "If I Needed You" right here, right now! (hmmm. Jesus Jones...nah) ;-) We're also looking for someone willing to create some original cover art. The idea behind this is not to make money. We wouldn't want to charge for these songs or this album. We just wanna get 'em out to the larger CBN audience. As currently envisioned, it would be of a similar nature to the free download Robert Johnson tribute album, or the various CBN Christmas albums. It is not designed to detract from, or compete with, the Blues Album Dan Sleep is currently putting together for CBN, which many of us here are also contributing to. All we ask, like the judges on American Idol, is that you make your submitted TVZ song your own.

For those who are interested, you can add MP3 files using the Attach Files or Upload Files link at the bottom left to this Discussion. Record 'em however y'all feel comfortable: lo-fi, hi-fi, wi-fi, or in-fi, doesn't matter. You can PM me here at CBN for any offline technical or otherwise discussions. I will, eventually, get back to you.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Vinylhed on April 16, 2012 at 10:59am

Wow! Now that's beautiful. Stripped down, bleak and utterly wonderful.

This is going to be a brilliant tribute album, thanks to you and the other talented guys who have submitted tunes already.

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on April 18, 2012 at 3:39pm

RTZ, that is a gorgeous version of Rake.

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Permalink Reply by Russell Carlin on April 16, 2012 at 9:18am

Hi Oily, hope you get this attachment o.k. forSnake Song by Townes.

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on April 16, 2012 at 12:33pm

Great song. Great rhythm. Great job, Russell.

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Permalink Reply by Russell Carlin on April 16, 2012 at 9:29am

Hi Oily, hope you get this attachment O.K, seem to be having trouble uploading file.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 16, 2012 at 9:48pm

Russell,

These came across as a couple of indistinct JPEGs; did you intend to upload mp3 files instead?

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Permalink Reply by Vinylhed on April 17, 2012 at 8:41am

Hey folks, here's my take on Black Jack Mama.

I thought I'd try something a little different with this Townes song. Now, I'm a little worried that there's a couple of "embellishments" I've added that might cause fans of Townes Van Zandt to foam at the mouth with anger. So, I'm throwing this out there to get your feelings and opinions. If the reaction is unanimously in the negative, I'll remove the offending "embellishments". I hope you'll embrace this different way of presenting a Townes song. It comes from a love and respect of his music, and an appreciation of the wider musical landscape.

Attachments:

Black Jack Mama (Hick Hop).mp3, 4.2 MB

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Permalink Reply by Thorsten Hinrichsen on April 17, 2012 at 11:07am

Hey man, that's pretty cool. Courageous - but that's what a cover version should be like! Good cover artists should always try to take a song into another musical setting, who needs a 1 by 1 copy when you can get the original? So ... Thumbs up!

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on April 17, 2012 at 12:32pm

Tearing my clothes and pulling out my hair. Ooh. Got foam on the key board.

Well, Vinyl the song made me laugh at first - in a pleasant and enjoying way -- and then I just appreciated it.

It's got some whimsey and hick-hop, but a lot more blues. Vinyl, you have denied the blues thing a bit in the past. I think you are a blues man. Like it.

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Permalink Reply by turtlehead on April 17, 2012 at 12:32pm

I got a big ol' smile on my face over here Vinyl. I think it's great and a nice change of pace for the album. I was somewhat worried that the album would be like an hour long funeral dirge. I think Townes had a sharp sense of humor and there needs to be some fun to balance out the sad.

Sounds like you had a good time with the song and the samples. Did you get the term Hick Hop from the Asylum Street Spankers? They do a great song by that name which points out the similarities between cowboy murder ballads and gansta rap.

I'm turtlehead and I endorse this version.

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on April 17, 2012 at 3:28pm

Nice Vinyl , it endless what can be done with a song no worries, how bout a rap version of

Sad Cinderella or a reggae version of If I Needed You. Like Oily said if you got it bring it.

I thought of doing Rake with Spaghetti western music and a vampire accsent, you know

Eastwood meets Dracula. I like to think Townes would like the fact these are home made instruments and just good old folk diggin on his songs. Its all good.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 17, 2012 at 9:51pm

Vinyl,

Muahahahaha! I think Townes would love this! Your love and respect for the man's music definitely comes through. You have also complied in spades with what I suggested at the beginning of this project: make his songs your own. You did! The vibe I got from this was similar to Uncle John's reaction: this sounded like the Bo Diddley blues beat, almost, just with the Hick Hop (love that term!) overlay. And I agree with his bluesman assessment. Well and truly done!

And yes, lest anyone was getting worried about the funereal aspects of the whole project (reinforced, I'm glad to say in a twisted way, by the cover art ;-) ), this is exactly the sort of musical surprise that you can see lurking in numerous photos of Townes: there's always a dangerous twinkle in his eye. Man was known for his cheesy jokes; give a listen to the between-song patter on Live at The Old Quarter. First time I heard the "drunk walking down the street" joke fromthat album, about losing his car and his girl, I snorted a Coke through my nose - outwards; I used it onstage about a year later at an open mic, and then again a couple years after that at an informal sing at my then-girlfriend's dorm, along with the Uncle Ben's perverted rice joke, and got huge laughs on both.

Which means that instead of Two Girls, I think Fraternity Blues might just have to appear instead. Or maybe in addition to? >:-E