Nath Dresser
Spring Green, WI
www.nathdresser.com
I saw Townes at least six times, but for two gigs, I have no set lists: at the Gryphon in Pittsboro, NC, a week after the Cat’s Cradle gig (March 18, 1977) and at the Belle Chere street festival in Asheville, NC (July 28, 1990). I recorded him just once--at The Cat’s Cradle—and shot photographed him twice—at The Cat’s Cradle in ’77 and Belle Chere in 1990.
But I guess making notes four out of the six gigs, and recording one and photographing Townes twice isn’t too shabby. There’s no one else I’ve seen anywhere close to six times, so I suppose I was smitten by Townes, his songwriting, and his unique abilities as a performer.
I still need to dub the Cat’s Cradle onto CD, and when I do, I’ll be able to make more detailed notes for that gig. I’m sure there was lots more between-songs chatter than just the “beer” story. . . .
Anyway, here’s a list of the four gigs, in chronological order, with set lists and some notes on stories and jokes.
March 11, 1977—The Cat’s Cradle (Chapel Hill, NC) (The Cat’s Cradle is in Carrboro these days, but I think in 1977 it was in Chapel Hill. It’s been long enough that I can’t remember, though.)
Townes was playing an Epiphone jumbo this night. Before the gig, I asked if he’d mind if I taped the show, and he said no, not at all . . . the more people who heard, the better. He also gave me some pointers on copyrighting songs—as if I had any then that were worth copyrighting. . . .
SET ONE
Talkin’ Thunderbird Wine Blues
Pancho and Lefty
Buckskin Stallion Blues
None But the Rain
Dollar Bill Blues
If I Needed You
Brother Flower
No Deal
Mister Mud and Mister Gold
Two Girls
One Too Many Mornings [Dylan]
My Starter Won’t Start this Morning
Illegal Cargo [Olney]
Greensboro Woman
Talkin’ Fraternity Blues
Tyin’ Knots in the Devil’s Tail [trad.]
Shrimp Song
SET TWO
Waitin' Around to Die
St. John the Gambler
I’ll Be Here in the Morning
Rex’s Blues
The Cuckoo [trad.]
To Live’s to Fly
Rake
FFV [trad.]
No Place to Fall
White Freightliner Blues
[beer . . . San Miguel . . . tells story of playing a venue where the bartender had “almost every kind” of foreign beer—that meant Heineken and Michelob. . . .]
Seasons of My Heart [George Jones]
Tecumseh Valley
Buckskin Stallion Blues
Snake Mountain Blues
Hi, Low, and In-between
For the Sake of the Song
Dead Flowers [The Stones]
Fraulein [ ]
SET THREE
Cocaine
Who Do You Love
Central 209
No Lonesome Tune
Turnstiled, Junkpiled
Don’t Let the Sunshine Fool You [last song of a long night—41 songs]
May 2, 1985—McDibb’s (Black Mountain, NC)
(with Mickey White on guitar, Donnie Silverman on flute and sax)
SET ONE (9:10 – 10:20 PM)
[“last night of a month-long tour”]
[penguin joke]
Dollar Bill Blues
No Place to Fall
Talkin’ Thunderbird Wine Blues
[Billy Graham / Guru / cop / “Do you know Jesus?” story]
Pancho and Lefty
Buckskin Stallion Blues [“I still miss the horse” intro]
Gone, Gone Blues [“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana”]
Ain’t Leavin’ Your Love
[“Here’s a weird story. . . .” Riding with Guy Clark in VW, hawk flies past with snake in talons, drops snake on VW windshield, fan belt breaks, Guy uses snake as replacement . . . afterwards, Guy wrote “LA Freeway,” and Townes wrote “No Deal”. . . .]
No Deal
Rake [intro: while touring, read Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis; put it down and wrote “Rake”]
[drunk, car, cop, fly, girl joke]
Flyin’ Shoes
[Mickey] Last Thing on My Mind
[Mickey] I’ve Been Everywhere
* talk about Rex Bell? or did they play Rex’s Blues?
[talk about “Silver Ships of Andilar”]
If I Needed You
SET TWO (11:10 PM – 12:35 AM)
[Uncle Ben’s perverted rice joke]
Loretta
[talk about “Sad Cinderella”]
Don’t You Take it Too Bad
Many a Fine Lady
Nothin’
I’ll Be Here in the Morning
To Live’s to Fly
Short-haired Woman Blues [Hopkins]
[Mickey] Sometimes it Happens that Way (?)
[Mickey] Back to Rain (?)
Roll out the Barbarians (Welcome to Armageddon)
Shrimp Song [?]
Waitin’ Round to Die
Kathleen
[talk about Gideons, and also Baptists, love, and dancing]
Racin’ in the Streets [Springsteen]
Snowin’ on Ratone
[cat, canary story]
Pancho and Lefty
June 1, 1987—Paul Green Theatre (Chapel Hill, NC)
(three sets: first, David Olney; second, Townes Van Zandt; third, Guy Clark)
Townes’ set. . . .
Loretta
Buckskin Stallion Blues
Pancho and Lefty
Talkin’ Thunderbird Wine Blues
Shrimp Song
The Catfish Song
Snowin’ on Raton
Dollar Bill Blues
Don’t You Take it Too Bad
Tecumseh Valley
Talkin’ Karate Blues
If I Needed You
Texas River Song
July 12, 1996—Theatre on the Green (Cheraw, SC)
(also playing that night, Two Dollar Guitar)
Townes was playing a Gibson J-200 this night; for the detail-minded, he had a Shubb capo. . . .
SET ONE
Loretta
My Starter Won’t Start this Morning
Katie Bell Blue
Dollar Bill Blues
Marie [Townes introduced this as “a happy little ditty”]
The Catfish Song
[penguin joke]
[song intro: the Guy Clark, VW, hawk, snake story . . . the hawk this time is a red-shouldered hawk . . . “If you believe that story, you’ll love this song. . . .”
No Deal
Buckskin Stallion Blues
Pancho and Lefty
Tecumseh Valley . . . segueing into the Stone’s “Dead Flowers” . . . back to the last verse of Tecumseh Valley
SET TWO
Who Do You Love
[talk of G as “the people’s key”]
Old Shep [played in “C, the people’s key . . . F is not the people’s key. . . .”]
Short-Haired Woman Blues [Hopkins]
German Mustard
The July 12, 1996 gig in Cheraw was the last time I saw Townes play. He was pretty much in terrible form, something I’d heard about, but had never seen before. It was more heart-breaking than “Old Shep.” But afterwards, a songwriter friend of mine and I got to talk to him in a trailer on site, or perhaps it was a motor home Townes was traveling in. I wish I could remember what we talked about, but I do recall that he seemed lucid and in good spirits. Whatever was wrong that night may have affected his playing and his memory of words and chords, but he sure didn’t mind talking to us, and seemed to be having a good time telling more stories and such. We were glad to have the memory of the performance more than offset by the visit with Townes.