Last Night’s Tribute to Townes Van Zandt @ Old Town
I had a great time at Chris Buhalis‘s tribute for Townes Van Zandt last night. Chris, who knew Townes, has been doing this yearly tribute at Old Town in Ann Arbor since the great songwriter’s death on New Years Day 15 years ago.
My friend Mark, who knows every lyrics to every Van Zandt song, and I planned to go last year, but things got a little out of hand during our New Years Party and we weren’t in fine health to attend. This year, Mark promised himself he would attend, and he was successful at convincing me to attend too. I’m glad I said, “yes.”
Chris was accompanied by Jason Dennie (pictured on left) on mandolin and Dave Keeney on slide guitar.
While it’s fun to find new songwriters, it’s often better to revisit older ones that came before us. I’ve always appreciated “Dead Flowers” by Townes, but this was the first time for me to really take in his extensive catalogue of songs. I’ll never get to see Townes live, but this tribute night is the next best thing. Chris met Townes in the 90s. Townes was the first person to tell Chris to pursue songwriting professionally, and there is a great level of respect in how Chris performs these classic songs.
My friend Mark made quite a few requests, including Rex’s Blues. Chris said, “Yeah! I’ll play that! I was just talking to Rex a few days ago on the phone!” I especially enjoyed hearing stories about Townes’s friend Blaze Foley, the Duct Tape Messiah, and hearing songs Townes wrote about (or for?) his eccentric Austin friend.
Chris also choose some fun Hank Williams tunes since Townes was largely influenced by the country great. The crowd singing-a-long to “Move It on Over” was a nice moment:
Plus, Old Town is always a great spot to see live music on Sunday’s. It’s a rare treat to see quality music on a Sunday night with an appreciative crowd. Students reading poetry at the bar, fellow musicians from the area (Dave Boutette and Nick Strange were in attendance)… Mark’s Uncle TK, who is Ann Arbor’s most popular hippie, joined us at the show. The myth is you can send an envelop to “TK in Ann Arbor” with no address, and it will still arrive to his house.
Anyways, it was a fun night to enjoy some Short’s Huma-Lupa-Licious on draft at take in Townes Van Zandt’s lyrics.
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