Latest / DISGRACELAND / Townes Van Zandt: Dreaming Hit Songs, Detox, and Waiting Around to Die

Transcript

Townes Van Zandt: Dreaming Hit Songs, Detox, and Waiting Around to Die · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. This is a
0:15
Speaker 1: story about a songwriter, an incredible talent who toiled in obscurity.
0:23
Speaker 1: He had a number one hit, but most people don't
0:25
Speaker 1: know his name. He released a dozen albums during his lifetime,
0:30
Speaker 1: none sold more than a few thousand copies. He spent
0:33
Speaker 1: his entire career waiting to die, knowing that he would
0:37
Speaker 1: only become a legend after he was gone, just like
0:41
Speaker 1: his idol, Hank Williams. Because just like Hank Williams, he
0:45
Speaker 1: lived in pain, and also like Hank Williams, he sacrificed
0:50
Speaker 1: everything to chase the muse. This is the story of
0:55
Speaker 1: Towns van Zand a songwriter's songwriter who lived his art.
1:00
Speaker 1: In his art was some of the saddest, most mournful
1:04
Speaker 1: songs ever committed to tape. Songs that were so real
1:07
Speaker 1: and relatable and funny and fucked up that they had
1:11
Speaker 1: a magical power to make you feel better about your
1:14
Speaker 1: own fucked up life. Great music, unlike that loop. I
1:18
Speaker 1: played a few at the top of the show that
1:21
Speaker 1: wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my
1:24
Speaker 1: melotron called Texas Lighter Fluid MK one. I played you
1:30
Speaker 1: that loop because I can't afford the rights to Tony
1:32
Speaker 1: Braxton's on Break My Heart. And why would I play
1:37
Speaker 1: you that specific slice of blistering Heartbreak Cheese? Could I
1:41
Speaker 1: afford it? Because that was the number one song in
1:45
Speaker 1: America on January first, nineteen ninety seven, And that was
1:49
Speaker 1: the day that Living on the Road finally killed Towns
1:52
Speaker 1: van zan forty four years to the day after Hank
1:56
Speaker 1: Williams died under similar circumstances. On this episode.
2:03
Speaker 2: Poetry picking, gambling, rambling, Blistering Heartbreak Cheese in the Legend
2:10
Speaker 2: of the Late Great Towns van zand I'm Jake Brennan.
2:15
Speaker 3: In this this disgraceland, Towns van Zandt held the paper
2:51
Speaker 3: cup in the palm of his hand.
2:54
Speaker 1: It was tiny, like something they would give you at
2:56
Speaker 1: the dentist's office, or something the nurses used to give
3:00
Speaker 1: with his pills. Back in Galvelston, it was New Year's
3:04
Speaker 1: Eve nineteen ninety six, and Towns was in a Memphis
3:08
Speaker 1: recording studio. Behind the mixing board was Steve Shelley, the
3:12
Speaker 1: drummer for Sonic Youth. Across from Towns, a group of
3:17
Speaker 1: young Memphis All Star pickers from the band two dollars guitar,
3:20
Speaker 1: waited for Towns to call the next song. They were
3:23
Speaker 1: all there to make an album for Sonic Youth's record label,
3:26
Speaker 1: Ecstatic Peace. Towns was convinced it would be his final
3:30
Speaker 1: recording after a hard fifty two years. Towns could feel
3:35
Speaker 1: his body breaking down. His lungs were collapsing. It left
3:40
Speaker 1: his singing voice weak and unsteady. His heart felt like
3:44
Speaker 1: he could barely pump the blood through his veins, and
3:46
Speaker 1: his hands were shaking every time he went more than
3:48
Speaker 1: an hour without a drink, so he could barely play
3:51
Speaker 1: the guitar. And then there was his hip. He'd slipped
3:55
Speaker 1: and fallen a few days before Christmas, and he spent
3:57
Speaker 1: the last week in his cabin outside of Nashville, bill
4:00
Speaker 1: scooting around on his ass. When his long suffering road manager,
4:04
Speaker 1: Harold Eggers, picked him up for the trip to Memphis,
4:07
Speaker 1: he begged Towns to go to the hospital instead, but
4:11
Speaker 1: the opportunity to cut one last album with these younger
4:13
Speaker 1: dudes was irresistible. If he didn't make the session, Town's
4:18
Speaker 1: new he might not get another chance. So Harold carried
4:22
Speaker 1: Towns to the car and then rolled him into the
4:24
Speaker 1: studio in a wheelchair, but now the pain at his
4:27
Speaker 1: hip was blinding. Towns desperately needed to fix. If he
4:32
Speaker 1: was going to get through a song, then these tiny
4:34
Speaker 1: cups of vodka that Harold kept pouring weren't getting it done.
4:37
Speaker 1: Neither were the handful of pain pills he swallowed before
4:40
Speaker 1: they arrived. Towns crumbled the paper cup in his hand
4:44
Speaker 1: and tossed it on the ground. He snarled at Harold,
4:47
Speaker 1: enough of these stupid tiny cups h and Harold snapped
4:50
Speaker 1: back that he would pour Towns a gallon if that's
4:52
Speaker 1: what he wanted. Towns shook his head. He didn't want
4:56
Speaker 1: a gallon. He just wanted the pain to stop. It
4:59
Speaker 1: felt like it had been as constant companion for so long,
5:02
Speaker 1: and after a long pause, he said, just one more
5:05
Speaker 1: shot for a blues. Harold handed him another small cup
5:10
Speaker 1: and Towns tipped it back. He felt the burn of
5:12
Speaker 1: the vodka as it went down, and with the liquor
5:15
Speaker 1: coursing through his veins, he summoned up the last bit
5:18
Speaker 1: of energy he had left and he straightened up, even
5:21
Speaker 1: though it sent lightning bolts of pain shooting down his leg.
5:25
Speaker 1: He screwed his eyes shut tight and the way he
5:28
Speaker 1: always did when he sang, and began weaving together a
5:30
Speaker 1: haunting blues tune called Old Satan. His rhythm was shaky
5:37
Speaker 1: and his voice was frail, but still he poured everything
5:41
Speaker 1: he had into that performance, and for a moment it
5:44
Speaker 1: looked like the song might take flight, and there was
5:47
Speaker 1: a glimmer of the magic Towns used to conjure up
5:50
Speaker 1: so effortlessly. Steve Shelley excitedly started turning knobs on the
5:54
Speaker 1: mixing board, and the younger musicians watched breathlessly. But then
5:59
Speaker 1: the way of pain eventually overtook Towns again. He stumbled
6:03
Speaker 1: through the second verse, and the magic spell was broken.
6:07
Speaker 1: He made it through the song barely, but the take
6:10
Speaker 1: was hardly a keeper. Towns knew he couldn't go on.
6:15
Speaker 1: He laid down the guitar and snatched the bottle from
6:17
Speaker 1: Harold and took a long pull. And no one said anything,
6:20
Speaker 1: but they all knew it. This recording session was over.
6:27
Speaker 1: A few hours later, Towns was stretched out in the
6:30
Speaker 1: back seat of Harold's car as they drove back to
6:32
Speaker 1: Nashville in silence. Neither of them wanted to talk about
6:35
Speaker 1: the disastrous recording session, so instead, Harold flipped through the
6:39
Speaker 1: radio dial looking for a tune, and down near the
6:42
Speaker 1: left end of the dial, the unmistakable warble of Hank
6:44
Speaker 1: Williams suddenly cut through the static. Towns laid his head
6:48
Speaker 1: back and hummed along to the words of Hank's Lost Highway.
6:54
Speaker 1: Hank Williams, along with Lightning Hopkins, and Bob Dylan, made
6:57
Speaker 1: up Towns, this holy trinity of musical and lenses. Back
7:01
Speaker 1: in Houston, Towns studied at Lightning's feet, learning to cast
7:05
Speaker 1: a spell with the grooves so thick and steady it
7:07
Speaker 1: could hypnotize a room into silence. To this, he added
7:11
Speaker 1: the searing imagery from Bob Dylan's early records, which he
7:14
Speaker 1: devoured as a college student at the University of Colorado.
7:18
Speaker 1: But Hank Williams was his north Star. Towns always felt
7:22
Speaker 1: a spiritual connection to the country legend. They both have
7:25
Speaker 1: the same long and lanky frame, the same piercing stare,
7:29
Speaker 1: the same willingness to push aside health, family, friends, push
7:33
Speaker 1: aside everything really to chase the muse. And like Hank,
7:38
Speaker 1: who struggled with the bottle his whole life and was
7:40
Speaker 1: committed to a sanitarium, more than once. Towns, van Zandt
7:44
Speaker 1: had also spent some time in institutions. The first time
7:49
Speaker 1: was one who was just twenty during his sophomore year
7:52
Speaker 1: at the University of Colorado. He spent weeks locked in
7:55
Speaker 1: his apartment with a bottle of whiskey and lightning Hopkins
7:58
Speaker 1: records on repeat read. His girlfriend contacted his parents, but
8:03
Speaker 1: when they saw the terrible shape their son was in,
8:05
Speaker 1: they immediately had him committed to the University of Texas
8:08
Speaker 1: Medical branch in Galveleston. In Galvealston, Towns spent three months
8:13
Speaker 1: locked up, and he doped up. The doctors strapped him
8:17
Speaker 1: down to a gurney. They forced a rubber block into
8:20
Speaker 1: his mouth and sapped his brain with electroshock treatments that
8:22
Speaker 1: they insisted and cured his depression. Instead, it erased his
8:27
Speaker 1: long term memory. Hank's voice crackled through the car speakers
8:33
Speaker 1: and the song came to an end. In the backseat,
8:36
Speaker 1: Towns listened as the DJ came on, reminding everyone that
8:39
Speaker 1: Hank Williams died on New Year's Day. Towns knew the
8:44
Speaker 1: story well. Hank Williams was riding in the back seat
8:47
Speaker 1: of a black Cadillac heading up to a concert in Ohio,
8:51
Speaker 1: but he never made it. Word was he died somewhere
8:54
Speaker 1: around Bristol. Yet even after death, Hank's legend kept growing.
8:59
Speaker 1: Towns figured he was in the same boat. His legend
9:02
Speaker 1: would grow, but only after he died. As the codine
9:07
Speaker 1: and vodka started to make his head spin, he could
9:10
Speaker 1: almost see Hank in a white suit and stetson hats
9:12
Speaker 1: sitting alongside him in the backseat. The ghostly vision of
9:16
Speaker 1: Hank reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a
9:19
Speaker 1: flask and handed it to Towns. Towns took a pole and
9:23
Speaker 1: swore he could taste whiskey. Then Hank beckoned Towns on
9:28
Speaker 1: to follow him down the Lost Highway. But Towns wasn't
9:32
Speaker 1: ready to go just yet. It wasn't that he was
9:35
Speaker 1: afraid of death, far from it. He was the guy
9:38
Speaker 1: who wrote Waiting Around to Die, first released when he
9:41
Speaker 1: was barely in his twenties, after all, but Towns wanted
9:45
Speaker 1: to see the album through. He wanted to see his
9:48
Speaker 1: kids again. He wanted to ring just a little bit
9:51
Speaker 1: more picking and poetry out of his life. So he
9:55
Speaker 1: willed his aching body to hold on just a little longer,
9:58
Speaker 1: and he looked over at the vision of Hank smirking
10:00
Speaker 1: at him underneath a white hat, and begged for a
10:04
Speaker 1: bit more time, and he can only hope that Hank
10:08
Speaker 1: Williams would listen. Towns, van zandt stared at the clinched
10:38
Speaker 1: fist in front of him. The fists belonged to Guy Clark.
10:43
Speaker 1: Guy's wife, Suzanne, hovered next to him, waiting. Towns looked
10:47
Speaker 1: at the three straws Guy held tight in his hand
10:49
Speaker 1: and scratched his head. He reached forward, but then stopped
10:53
Speaker 1: to think. The trio has gathered in the living room
10:58
Speaker 1: of a tiny, dilapidated house in East Nashville, where newlywed's
11:01
Speaker 1: Guy and Susannah lived. Towns came out from Texas to
11:05
Speaker 1: be the best man at their wedding in January of
11:07
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two and never really left. It was March
11:11
Speaker 1: now and he was still crashing in Susannah's tiny art
11:13
Speaker 1: studio on a dirty twin mattress they found in a dumpster.
11:18
Speaker 1: Towns and Guy have been best friends since linking up
11:20
Speaker 1: as young songwriters on the Houston coffeehouse circuit. They had
11:24
Speaker 1: an equal passion for songwriting. Booze and gambling, and they
11:28
Speaker 1: would gamble on anything cards, sure, dice, of course, but
11:32
Speaker 1: they would also bet one hundred dollars on a coin
11:34
Speaker 1: flip for which rain Drop would make it to the
11:37
Speaker 1: bottom of the window first. Right now, though the stakes
11:41
Speaker 1: weren't quite as high, but Towns still wanted to win.
11:45
Speaker 1: As Towns's hand hesitated above the three straws, he stared
11:48
Speaker 1: once more at Guy's eyes, and they were bleary. His
11:52
Speaker 1: nose was bright red. Suzannah looked about the same. All
11:56
Speaker 1: three of them looked like they were half in the back,
11:59
Speaker 1: but that was only half right. Sure, they had been
12:02
Speaker 1: drinking hot toddies all afternoon, but that was purely medicinal
12:06
Speaker 1: because Towns, Guy, Susanna were all suffering from the worst
12:11
Speaker 1: case of the flu they could remember. Finally, Towns made
12:14
Speaker 1: his decision. He reached down to Guy's fist and pulled
12:17
Speaker 1: out a straw and held it up. It was barely
12:20
Speaker 1: two inches long. Towns shook his head and muttered he
12:24
Speaker 1: knew he had lost, which meant Towns would have to
12:27
Speaker 1: pull on his coat and boots and drag his aching
12:29
Speaker 1: body down to the pharmacy to buy a bottle of
12:31
Speaker 1: Cody and cough s here for the three of them.
12:34
Speaker 1: A half hour later, Towns was back at the house.
12:37
Speaker 1: He grabbed three rocks glasses and poured the contents of
12:40
Speaker 1: the bottle evenly between them, before passing a glass to
12:42
Speaker 1: Guy and Susannah. They cleaned glasses, and Towns downed his
12:46
Speaker 1: in a single gulp. Susannah went back to her easel,
12:50
Speaker 1: where she was working on a painting of a bright
12:52
Speaker 1: red apple bouncing across the canvas. Guy was tinkering with
12:57
Speaker 1: a new song, a cinematic story. Every bit is detailed
13:00
Speaker 1: as a Scorsese film, a cinematic story that he was
13:04
Speaker 1: calling let him roll. Towns listened for a few minutes
13:07
Speaker 1: before he felt the codeine kicking in. It was one
13:11
Speaker 1: of his favorite highs, warm and black. Normally, Towns liked
13:16
Speaker 1: to ride that high as long as he could, but
13:19
Speaker 1: tonight he was too sick and too tired, and the
13:22
Speaker 1: medicine was doing its job, and soon he was nodding off,
13:25
Speaker 1: and while he still had the energy, Towns stumbled off
13:28
Speaker 1: to the mattress on the floor and fell headlong into
13:30
Speaker 1: the deepest sleep of his life. Suddenly Towns awoke and
13:36
Speaker 1: found himself on a stage with bright lights shining in
13:39
Speaker 1: his face. His mouth opened and outpoured a melody, but
13:43
Speaker 1: it was one he couldn't quite recognize. It felt familiar, warm,
13:48
Speaker 1: like he'd been singing it for years, centuries maybe. As
13:52
Speaker 1: he kept singing, he looked around the room, a roadhouse,
13:56
Speaker 1: like any of the thousands he'd played before, but like
13:59
Speaker 1: the song, he couldn't quite place this one.
14:02
Speaker 4: Sure.
14:03
Speaker 1: There were the same empty Schitz bottles scattered across the tables,
14:06
Speaker 1: the same sawdust floor, the same spellbound crowd locked into
14:10
Speaker 1: his timeless melody, but there were no foosball tables and
14:13
Speaker 1: no televisions. His guitar took up the melody with an easy,
14:17
Speaker 1: natural swing, and while they played, Towns looked out across
14:20
Speaker 1: the crowd, and the women were wearing knee length dresses.
14:23
Speaker 1: The men were all decked out in suits. And then
14:26
Speaker 1: he caught his own reflection in a long mirror hanging
14:29
Speaker 1: across the bar's back wall. His piercing black eyes looked
14:32
Speaker 1: the same as usual, but Towns was surprised to see
14:35
Speaker 1: he was wearing a suit as well, a white number
14:39
Speaker 1: with a sharp cut and a white stetson hat to match.
14:43
Speaker 1: He locked eyes with his reflection in the mirror. Those
14:46
Speaker 1: dark eyes drew him in while they kept repeating the
14:48
Speaker 1: last line of the song, something about easing the pain,
14:53
Speaker 1: over and over, while those twin pools of darkness kept
14:56
Speaker 1: pulling them in deeper and deeper, filling his entire field
15:01
Speaker 1: of vision. It was still pitch black. When towns Van's
15:07
Speaker 1: aunt jolted out of his dream. He thrashed around on
15:10
Speaker 1: the mattress until he rolled onto the floor, half awake,
15:13
Speaker 1: and the last line of the song was still ringing
15:15
Speaker 1: in his head. Towns fumbled around for a pad of
15:19
Speaker 1: paper and jotted down the words. Then the melody was deep,
15:22
Speaker 1: so natural that he knew he would have no trouble
15:25
Speaker 1: remembering it. And then he collapsed back in a sleep.
15:29
Speaker 1: And when the sunlight flooded into his room the next morning,
15:32
Speaker 1: Towns lay still with eyes closed, listening to his pet parakeets,
15:35
Speaker 1: Loop and Lil chirping back and forth. Towns loved those birds.
15:40
Speaker 1: He took them with him everywhere, even stuffing them into
15:43
Speaker 1: the chest pockets of his pearl snap Western shirts. Sneaked
15:46
Speaker 1: them onto airplanes, and as he listened to the bird's
15:49
Speaker 1: timeless song, he slowly remembered his vivid dream from the
15:53
Speaker 1: night before, but when he opened his notebook, the whole
15:57
Speaker 1: surreal performance came flooding back to him. As he watched
16:01
Speaker 1: the birds flit around the room, he scratched out a
16:04
Speaker 1: few more lines before stumbling out into the living room.
16:08
Speaker 1: Guy and Susannah were already awake and drinking coffee when
16:11
Speaker 1: Towns walked into the room and asked if they wanted
16:13
Speaker 1: to hear a new song, and the song was if
16:16
Speaker 1: I Needed You. And that's how thick the mojo was
16:22
Speaker 1: for Towns van Zant in nineteen seventy two. He was
16:25
Speaker 1: literally writing hit songs in his sleep, even if they
16:28
Speaker 1: weren't always hit songs for him. His version of If
16:32
Speaker 1: I Needed You may have never even sniffed the charts,
16:34
Speaker 1: but Emmy Lou Harris and Don Williams took it to
16:37
Speaker 1: number three in nineteen eighty one, and it's been recorded
16:40
Speaker 1: by hundreds of artists over the years. Even if he
16:43
Speaker 1: hadn't scored a hit for himself, yet, nearly everyone who
16:46
Speaker 1: came in contact with Towns van Zant was convinced that
16:49
Speaker 1: a hit song was just around the corner. It's why
16:52
Speaker 1: Guy and Susannah let him crash in Nashville That's why
16:55
Speaker 1: Steve Earl ran away from home as a teenager to
16:58
Speaker 1: Towns in Houston and later followed into Nashville, just for
17:01
Speaker 1: the chance to soak up some of that mojo. To
17:04
Speaker 1: know Towns van zan was to know greatness. He had
17:08
Speaker 1: the poetry, he had, the playing, he had, the charisma,
17:11
Speaker 1: and the sheer incredible talent that shined in whatever room
17:15
Speaker 1: he rambled into. A Few months after writing If I
17:19
Speaker 1: Needed You in the throes of a codeine fever dream,
17:22
Speaker 1: Towns had rambled out west to Colorado, something he did
17:25
Speaker 1: nearly every summer, to ride horses, write songs, and rest
17:29
Speaker 1: up for a heavy fall tour schedule. In Colorado, Mickey White,
17:34
Speaker 1: a fellow musician from the Houston circuit, scored Towns a
17:37
Speaker 1: session at a nearby radio station. Sitting in the parking
17:40
Speaker 1: lot of the station, Mickey asked Towns if he had
17:42
Speaker 1: any new songs. Towns didn't pull any punches. He just
17:46
Speaker 1: slung his guitar over his shoulder and played Mickey, if
17:49
Speaker 1: I Needed You and Poncho and Lefty back to back.
17:53
Speaker 1: His songs were never a problem for Townsvanzaan, but financial
17:58
Speaker 1: issues at his record lidit questionable production decisions, and his
18:01
Speaker 1: own self destructive behavior all conspired to prevent the breakthrough
18:05
Speaker 1: that always seemed like it should have been just around
18:08
Speaker 1: the corner. In the early fall of nineteen seventy two,
18:13
Speaker 1: Towns van Zant was back in Texas visiting his mother
18:16
Speaker 1: when an alarming episode nearly derailed his career permanently. Because
18:20
Speaker 1: by now Towns wasn't just tipping back coughs. Here, he
18:23
Speaker 1: was shooting heroin, and while home alone, Tounds tied off
18:28
Speaker 1: and overdursed. It was hours before his body was found.
18:32
Speaker 1: He came into the emergency room dead on arrival. It
18:35
Speaker 1: took the doctors almost an hour before they finally revived him. Miraculously,
18:40
Speaker 1: he avoided brain damage and it didn't change his behavior,
18:44
Speaker 1: though he laughed it off and titled his next album
18:47
Speaker 1: with the late Great Towns van Zant, and despite containing
18:51
Speaker 1: his two signature songs If I Needed You and Poncho
18:54
Speaker 1: and Lefty, the album sold less than ten thousand copies.
18:58
Speaker 1: His record label folded and contract to Speeds prevented the
19:01
Speaker 1: follow up from coming out for more than six years,
19:05
Speaker 1: and by that point Towns had given up on stardom.
19:08
Speaker 1: He practically gave up on everything, retreating to a shack
19:11
Speaker 1: in Franklin, Tennessee, with no running water. He spent most
19:15
Speaker 1: of the next decade getting high, picking wildflowers and waiting
19:19
Speaker 1: around to die. But Hank Williams's call was still far
19:23
Speaker 1: off in the distance and echo the Towns could barely hear. Instead,
19:29
Speaker 1: another pair of country outlaws. We're about to bring Towns
19:32
Speaker 1: van Zant, in his career, back to life. We'll be
19:42
Speaker 1: right back after this. We're We're, We're. Towns van Zant
19:51
Speaker 1: was doing at least seventy five when he saw the
19:53
Speaker 1: red and blue lights flashing behind him. That put him
19:57
Speaker 1: at least thirty miles over the speed limit as he
19:59
Speaker 1: flew through this tiny Texas town halfway between Houston and Austin.
20:04
Speaker 1: To speed limit was only part of the problem. In
20:06
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five, just about any time Towns van Zant
20:09
Speaker 1: was behind the wheel, he was committing at least a
20:11
Speaker 1: couple felonies. Today was no exception. He was still feeling
20:15
Speaker 1: the buzz from the pint of vogge he put away
20:18
Speaker 1: during the gig last night, and a constellation of pills
20:21
Speaker 1: he swallowed afterward, not to mention the beers he had
20:23
Speaker 1: for breakfast, and there was also the pharmacy's worth of
20:27
Speaker 1: narcotics wrapped up in a paper sack in the backseat,
20:30
Speaker 1: plus the small bag of heroin an injection kid stuffed
20:34
Speaker 1: him to the driver's seat. But Towns have been through
20:36
Speaker 1: one thousand close calls with the law without earning serious
20:39
Speaker 1: jail time. Once he crashed his car through a bars
20:43
Speaker 1: plate glass window and just walked inside in order to drink. Somehow,
20:48
Speaker 1: he ended up with only a fine, so Towns was
20:51
Speaker 1: determined to play it cool as he saw a pair
20:53
Speaker 1: of highway patrolmen step out of their cruiser and march
20:56
Speaker 1: towards his car. They were an odd pair. One was
21:00
Speaker 1: tall and pale, with a blond crew cut and bright
21:02
Speaker 1: blue eyes. His partner was shorter and stocky, with bronze
21:06
Speaker 1: skin and dark brown eyes and the bright Texas sun.
21:10
Speaker 1: The contrast between them couldn't have been greater. Towns couldn't
21:13
Speaker 1: help think it would make a great song, and as
21:16
Speaker 1: the cops approached, Towns rolled down the window and, without
21:19
Speaker 1: a hint of a slur, asked the officers if there
21:21
Speaker 1: was a problem. The shorter cop didn't respond, He just
21:26
Speaker 1: stared at Towns and asked for his license and registration.
21:29
Speaker 1: By some minor miracle, Towns's license was up to date. Unfortunately,
21:34
Speaker 1: though the car's plates were expired. In no time, flat
21:38
Speaker 1: Towns was being pulled out of the car, and if
21:40
Speaker 1: the cops were suspicious before, they were practically salivating when
21:43
Speaker 1: they found a large water cash in his pocket. Towns
21:46
Speaker 1: calmly explained that he was a singer songwriter and the
21:49
Speaker 1: cash was payment from last night's gig in Houston. He
21:52
Speaker 1: could see the cops smirk at each other and roll
21:54
Speaker 1: their eyes. Towns figured songwriters must be a dime a
21:58
Speaker 1: dozen out here. The blanc cop practically sneered down her.
22:02
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he wrote, anything we've heard of a gambler
22:07
Speaker 1: knows when it's time to play his ace, and Town's
22:09
Speaker 1: new this was the time, sure, he said, you ever
22:14
Speaker 1: heard of Poncho and Lefty? The remark landed even heavier
22:19
Speaker 1: than he hoped. The cops froze with a surprised look
22:22
Speaker 1: in their eyes. Before they recovered they both shook their heads.
22:26
Speaker 1: No way, they weren't buying it. Fortunately, Towns of the proof.
22:31
Speaker 1: He reached into the back seat of the car and
22:33
Speaker 1: pulled out an LP He pointed to the song on
22:36
Speaker 1: the back, and then he pointed to the liner notes,
22:38
Speaker 1: all songs written by Towns van Zan. Towns waited in
22:43
Speaker 1: silence as the cops whispered back and forth. He knew
22:47
Speaker 1: better than to say anything, and he tried not to
22:49
Speaker 1: even breathe too loudly. And when the patrol men turned
22:52
Speaker 1: back to him, Towns could feel the tension lifting. The
22:56
Speaker 1: blonde cops said that they'd let him go with the warning.
23:00
Speaker 1: Was surprised, but he wasn't going to look at gift
23:02
Speaker 1: horse in the mouth. He started to leave, but a
23:05
Speaker 1: question was warming its way through his mind. He knew
23:08
Speaker 1: he should say thanks and be on his way, but
23:11
Speaker 1: he decided to push his luck. Why. He wanted to
23:14
Speaker 1: know were they letting him go. The mismatched pair of
23:18
Speaker 1: highway patrolmen grinned and explained that their radio call names
23:22
Speaker 1: were Poncho and left Team. Towns nodded thoughtfully and started
23:26
Speaker 1: walking back to his car. Still he couldn't help himself.
23:30
Speaker 1: He spun around on his boot heels to ask one
23:32
Speaker 1: more question. Say, fellas, which one of you is Pancho?
23:37
Speaker 1: The Mexican cop pointed at his blue eyed, blonde haired
23:40
Speaker 1: partner he is, and with that, Towns cracked a smile,
23:44
Speaker 1: tipped his cowboy hat. Then a moment later he was
23:47
Speaker 1: flying down the road towards Austin, free and clean. By
23:54
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five, Towns's career was also flying thanks to
23:58
Speaker 1: two of the biggest country music stile on the planet.
24:01
Speaker 1: When Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard decided to release a
24:04
Speaker 1: duo album in nineteen eighty three, it had all the
24:07
Speaker 1: makings of a blockbuster. They had ace producer Chip's Moment
24:10
Speaker 1: in a crack band of Texas pickers. They had unique
24:13
Speaker 1: voices that complimented each other perfectly. But as the last
24:17
Speaker 1: day of recording came to a close, the only thing
24:20
Speaker 1: they didn't have was a single. Close to midnight, Merle
24:24
Speaker 1: Haggard went back to his tour bus to catch some
24:26
Speaker 1: sleep before pulling out in the morning, and Willie Nelson
24:29
Speaker 1: stayed in the studio pondering the missing track when his
24:32
Speaker 1: daughter Lana suggested Poncho and Lefty after hearing Emmy Lou
24:36
Speaker 1: Harris's nineteen seventy seven version, she left to grab a
24:40
Speaker 1: copy and came back around two am. Willie listened to
24:43
Speaker 1: the song once and told Chip's moment to go wake
24:46
Speaker 1: up Merle Haggard and they were going to cut the
24:48
Speaker 1: song that night, and the next morning the song was finished,
24:53
Speaker 1: but when the album came out, Poncho and Lefty was
24:56
Speaker 1: the title track. Both the album and the single went
25:01
Speaker 1: to number one on the country charts. Willie and Murrell
25:04
Speaker 1: filmed a big budget music video, and they even invited
25:07
Speaker 1: Towns to appear in it. Most fans paid no attention
25:10
Speaker 1: to the dark haired guitar picker from the music video,
25:13
Speaker 1: but enough of them started buying old Towns van zan
25:16
Speaker 1: albums that he was finally able to sign a record contract.
25:19
Speaker 1: He put out his first album in ten years with
25:21
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven's at My Window, and the album still
25:25
Speaker 1: wasn't a big seller, but it earned rave reviews, and
25:28
Speaker 1: it came with a bold sticker on the front, a
25:31
Speaker 1: quote that would follow Towns for the rest of his life,
25:34
Speaker 1: because by nineteen eighty seven, Towns's buddy Steve Earle had
25:37
Speaker 1: become a major star in his own right, and when
25:40
Speaker 1: the label asked him to come up with a quote,
25:42
Speaker 1: he did more than that. He threw down a gauntlet, saying,
25:46
Speaker 1: quote Towns van Zant's the best songwriter in the world,
25:50
Speaker 1: and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my
25:53
Speaker 1: cowboy boots and say that unquote. Towns reportedly hated that
25:58
Speaker 1: quote when people asked him it. He liked to say
26:01
Speaker 1: that he had met Bob Dylan's bodyguards and there was
26:03
Speaker 1: no way Steve would make it anywhere close to Bob's
26:06
Speaker 1: coffee table, which is probably true, but I digress. Although
26:10
Speaker 1: stardom still seemed out of reach, town seemed like he
26:13
Speaker 1: might settle into a niche as a critically acclaimed, if
26:16
Speaker 1: not commercially viable artist. He was touring regularly again. He
26:21
Speaker 1: married his third wife, Janine, and they had a son,
26:24
Speaker 1: and for a short time there was something close to
26:27
Speaker 1: domestic bliss. But living back in Texas again, temptation was everywhere.
26:33
Speaker 1: He couldn't walk a block down Sixth Street in Austin
26:35
Speaker 1: without a dozen people offering to buy him a drink
26:38
Speaker 1: or something stronger. Lightning Hopkins always told Towns to play
26:42
Speaker 1: the blues, you shouldn't even be able to stand up.
26:46
Speaker 1: Town seemed more determined than ever to live by that rule.
26:50
Speaker 1: One night at the club Emma Joe's, he was so
26:53
Speaker 1: drunk that he couldn't remember the words to If I
26:55
Speaker 1: Needed You. He was so drunk, in fact, that he
26:58
Speaker 1: wasn't even sure if the song was his, and the
27:01
Speaker 1: crowd shuffled uncomfortably until a tall man in a beat
27:04
Speaker 1: up white stetson jumped on stage and sang a verse
27:06
Speaker 1: until the lights finally went back on. In Towns's head,
27:10
Speaker 1: it wasn't the spirit of Hank Williams coming to the rescue. Instead,
27:14
Speaker 1: it was his friend and fellow hell racer, Blazed Foley,
27:17
Speaker 1: guiding him back in the right direction. But every day
27:21
Speaker 1: that went by, it became more and more clear that
27:24
Speaker 1: Towns van Zant would never be able to steer himself
27:26
Speaker 1: in the right direction in Austin. Soon, Towns, Janine, and
27:32
Speaker 1: their son will were leaving Texas for Tennessee. At first,
27:38
Speaker 1: the move did the trick. Towns put out some great albums,
27:41
Speaker 1: he and Jeanine had a daughter, and Towns even managed
27:44
Speaker 1: an almost two year stretch of sobriety. But the voice
27:48
Speaker 1: of Hank Williams was calling louder and more incessantly than
27:51
Speaker 1: ever before. In Towns knew it was just a matter
27:55
Speaker 1: of time before we followed Hank's call down the lost highway.
28:21
Speaker 1: Towns van Zand screamed out in agony. The air was
28:26
Speaker 1: like fire on his skin. The moonlight screaming in through
28:29
Speaker 1: the window was blinding. He pulled hard on the chain
28:33
Speaker 1: wrapped around his waist, but it held fast. The chain
28:37
Speaker 1: kept him trapped in this room, with just enough slack
28:40
Speaker 1: to make it to the toilet, but no further. He'd
28:42
Speaker 1: been stuck like this for days. Who will put Towns
28:46
Speaker 1: van Zand through this kind of torture? A crazed fan,
28:49
Speaker 1: an angry ex manager, a nurse in some mental institution.
28:54
Speaker 1: It was none of the above. In fact, the person
28:57
Speaker 1: who trapped him in this room was not one other
29:00
Speaker 1: than Towns van zan himself. In nineteen ninety three. With
29:06
Speaker 1: his young son and a baby daughter at home, Towns
29:09
Speaker 1: was taking extreme measures to try once again to dry out,
29:13
Speaker 1: so he went to the hardware store and bought a
29:15
Speaker 1: fifteen foot chain. Then he had his wife, Jeanine, attached
29:19
Speaker 1: one end to one thousand pound waterbed and locked the
29:21
Speaker 1: other end around his waist. For three days, he tried
29:25
Speaker 1: to sweat out the poison. He screamed and hallucinated that
29:28
Speaker 1: his daughter was flying around the room above him. He
29:31
Speaker 1: puked all over the place, shat himself, poured out sweat,
29:35
Speaker 1: shook like he was going into convulsions. Finally, on the
29:39
Speaker 1: fourth day, he couldn't take it anymore. He begged his wife,
29:43
Speaker 1: Jeanine to cut him loose. When she finally undid the chain,
29:47
Speaker 1: Towns stared down at the floor and mumbled in an apology.
29:51
Speaker 1: Then he tore as out the front door and sprinted
29:53
Speaker 1: to his truck. The tires screeched as he flew backward
29:56
Speaker 1: out of the driveway and down the road to the
29:58
Speaker 1: liquor store, where he ripped the little a pint of
30:00
Speaker 1: vodka with trembling hands. He downed half the bottle on
30:04
Speaker 1: a single gulp, and at last the pain ended, and
30:07
Speaker 1: it was the last time Towns would try to clean up.
30:12
Speaker 1: A year later, a doctor told him that another attempt
30:14
Speaker 1: at detoxing would likely kill him, but he didn't let
30:17
Speaker 1: that song him down. He kept touring with his road manager, Harold,
30:20
Speaker 1: managing his Vodcan intake, and every club on his route
30:24
Speaker 1: learned how to make a town shot two thirds ice
30:27
Speaker 1: water and one third vodka, just enough to ease the shakes,
30:30
Speaker 1: but not so much that he fell off his stool,
30:33
Speaker 1: and he kept recording too, despite his fading health. Towns
30:38
Speaker 1: put out two albums in nineteen ninety four, including some
30:41
Speaker 1: of the most rocking songs of his career on No
30:43
Speaker 1: Deeper Blue, and a cover's collection that included his beautifully
30:47
Speaker 1: melancholy reading of the Rolling Stones as dead Flowers, which
30:50
Speaker 1: the Coen Brothers memorably included in the final scene of
30:53
Speaker 1: their dark comedic masterpiece The Big Lebowski. But by the
30:57
Speaker 1: time Harold was driving Towns back from his disaster Memphis
31:00
Speaker 1: recording session on New Year's Eve nineteen ninety six, it
31:03
Speaker 1: was clear the Towns was reaching the end of the road.
31:07
Speaker 1: Back in Nashville, Harold and Janine insisted the Towns go
31:10
Speaker 1: to the hospital, and the doctor was discovered he had
31:13
Speaker 1: a broken hint and pulled him into emergency surgery, and
31:17
Speaker 1: before he went under, Towns made Janine promised that she
31:20
Speaker 1: wouldn't let them try to detox him in the hospital,
31:24
Speaker 1: and after she left the room, he gave the doctor's
31:26
Speaker 1: orders not to resuscitate him under any circumstances if the
31:30
Speaker 1: surgery didn't go well. Around two am, Towns came out
31:36
Speaker 1: of surgery. Because he was an active alcoholic, the nurses
31:39
Speaker 1: refused to give him pain medication. He was in agony,
31:43
Speaker 1: shaking from DTS and told Janine if this was truly
31:46
Speaker 1: the end, he didn't want to die in an institution,
31:49
Speaker 1: And at five pm on New Year's Day, towns Van's
31:53
Speaker 1: aunt signed out of the hospital against medical advice. He
31:57
Speaker 1: drank a triple vodka in the car on the way
31:59
Speaker 1: to his cabin in mind Juliette, Tennessee, a cabin he
32:02
Speaker 1: bought from his friend's guy in Susannah Clark. When he arrived,
32:06
Speaker 1: he smoked a joint and he was no longer shaking
32:09
Speaker 1: and the pain was starting to subside. Towns wondered if
32:14
Speaker 1: maybe he could slide through this close call like he'd
32:16
Speaker 1: slid through so many close calls before. But as he
32:19
Speaker 1: lay on the couch, he saw that same ghostly vision
32:23
Speaker 1: of Hank William's stroll into the living room in his
32:25
Speaker 1: white suit and stetson, sit down and stretch out his
32:29
Speaker 1: feet on the coffee table. He stared into Hank's dark
32:33
Speaker 1: eyes till they were all.
32:35
Speaker 3: He could see.
32:37
Speaker 1: A timeless melody was rising in his mind. He could
32:40
Speaker 1: feel himself rising too. Somewhere off in the distance, he
32:44
Speaker 1: heard a voice, his son was calling from another room
32:48
Speaker 1: asking if he needed anything. No, Towns called back. I've
32:53
Speaker 1: got everything I need right here. It was New Year's Day,
32:58
Speaker 1: the same day Hank Williams died on back in nineteen
33:01
Speaker 1: fifty three. And now on this New Year's Day years later,
33:06
Speaker 1: Towns van zandt was dead too. Twin souls gone too soon,
33:15
Speaker 1: both lost on the Lost Highway. And that is a disgrace.
33:24
Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan, and this this disgrace.
33:27
Speaker 4: Land all right, thanks for checking out this episode on
33:43
Speaker 4: Towns van zan appreciate you guys. As we just detailed,
33:46
Speaker 4: Towns van Zant lived an authentic life as an artist
33:50
Speaker 4: and a songwriter, and I believe in a lot of
33:52
Speaker 4: ways living with that commitment in.
33:55
Speaker 1: The end it cost him, and it cost him big.
33:58
Speaker 1: So the question of week this week is which musical
34:01
Speaker 1: artists gave up the most for their art six one
34:05
Speaker 1: seven nine six six six three eight Let me know
34:08
Speaker 1: voicemail and text to be up at disgracelampod on the socials.
34:11
Speaker 1: You want to support the show, you can do it
34:13
Speaker 1: in two ways. You can leave a review for Disgracelant
34:15
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or you can become a
34:17
Speaker 1: Disgraceland All Access member and get exclusive content and add
34:21
Speaker 1: for you. Listen and go to disgrace lampod dot com
34:23
Speaker 1: to sign up. All right, here comes some credits. Disgraceland
34:29
Speaker 1: was created by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership
34:31
Speaker 1: with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found
34:34
Speaker 1: on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If
34:38
Speaker 1: you're listening as a Disgracelan All Access member, thank you
34:41
Speaker 1: for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not,
34:44
Speaker 1: you can become a member right now by going to
34:46
Speaker 1: disgracelampod dot com slash Membership members can listen to every
34:51
Speaker 1: episode of disgracelan ad free, rate and review the show,
34:55
Speaker 1: and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook at disgracelampod,
35:00
Speaker 1: on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at Disgraceland Pod
35:04
Speaker 1: Rock a Roller. He's a bad, bad man.