Townes Van Zandt → Hank Williams
Long before Townes or Skynyrd got hold of it, Jimmie Rodgers wrote "Blue Yodel" and cut it first, back in 1927. Play his, then Townes's, and listen to how little the song needed changing.
Bob Dylan wrote it and put out the first recording in 1979, and Townes took it on in 1992. Play the two back to back and listen to the same animals get their names from two very different singers.
Hank had it on record with the Drifting Cowboys long before Townes got to it, and Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan both took a turn too. Follow this one and you are walking the line Townes learned from.
Townes wrote it in obscurity, and Willie, who understood that outlaw streak, sang it with Merle Haggard all the way to number one. Follow Willie and you hear what happens when a Townes song finds a crowd.
Guy Clark lived down the hall from Townes in Houston, trading songs and bottles, and he still called Townes the best songwriter he knew. Here is the other corner of that Texas trinity, the one Jerry Jeff Walker rounded out.
Even a songwriter's songwriter kept somebody else's song in his case, and this one belongs to Hank Williams. Start with the Drifting Cowboys cut from 1947, then hear Townes take it on.
or start your own at Townes Van Zandt → · different cuts from the same counter
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