I mentioned in my last column that I would bring another project including Saint Vitus’ own Scott Weinrich. This edition includes a tribute album to a renowned folk singer that I was not familiar with but have come to enjoy the music of through this album. In all honesty I didn’t know this was a tribute album until I did more reading up on it from the press release. The album is called Songs Of Townes Van Zandt it’s a tribute collaboration between Neurosis’ singer Scott Kelly, Scott Weinrich and Neurosis’ Steve Von Till.
Apparently a highly influential singer and songwriter, Van Zandt never quite reached the popularity of other folk singers of his time. Listening to his songs, I wondered how he never achieved as much fame as other folk singers. I’m not a folk music fan, but he obviously had a talent for the genre. Folk music, like a lot of other genres, has the ability to tell a rather vivid and emotional story in the time span of three to four minutes. Townes songs are no different
Kelly, Von Till and Wino do a wonderful job on this three way split album in paying tribute to Van Zandt and his songs. Each artist contributed three songs. Though Kelly and Von Till’s voices sound somewhat similar at times, Scott Weinrich’s voice is very distinct in his works. This is obviously an acoustic album with a very warm and settling feeling, yet sometimes dark. Even if you aren’t a fan of folk music, you may enjoy this album if you enjoyed the last collaboration I talked about with Wino and Connie Ochs. In fact, Wino credits Ochs in fully turning him onto Van Zandt’s music through this live album, Abnormal. I absolutely love this album and it’s made me a fan of Townes Van Zandt. If you’re diging the sounds of Von Till, kelly and Wino’s solo acoustice work, you really need to check out their solo albums as well.
Below are some of my favorites from the album, along with Townes singing his originals. Songs Of Townes Van Zandt is available through Neurot Recordings in North America on June 12th.
This one isn’t the actual recording on the album, but it was the only one I could find. It’s actually Connie Ochs and Wino performing Van Zandt’s “Nothing” from their Labour Of Love 7″ The song on this album sounds a bit better quality, but this will give you an idea of what it sounds like.
Lastly, I couldn’t find this song as performed by Steve Von Till, so I did the next best thing and simply posted Townes performing it live. It’s the opening track from the album.
You can read the entire description and presser of this album by visiting Earsplit Compound.
That Devil Music 