March 7, is the birthdate of the late Townes Van Zandt. I discovered Townes at about the same time I discovered John Stewart. His albums on Poppy were always a great discovery for me.

I kept up with him over the years but was never lucky enough to hear him perform live. One of the great things about Townes was his story-telling ability and, fortunately, many of these stories have been preserved in recordings. One of the great recordings was from the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and also featured Steve Earle and Guy Clark.

In 1991, Townes toured Ireland and Scotland as part of a package tour with Guy Clark, Peter Rowan and John Stewart. One of the venues where they performed was Roscrea, Ireland on August 31st, 1991.

During the tour Guy and Townes mostly performed together. I don’t know exactly why this was but my guess is that between the two of them they were just about able to do a set. I could be wrong about this, though.

This track is from that show. it’s a long one; shortly over 10 minutes in length. Townes tells a long rambling story and then sings Pancho and Lefty.

Happy Birthday, Townes.

Townes- A Long Story and Pancho and Lefty