Townes Van Zandt
At My Window (1987)

review by: Brandon Copple
Date: 5/16/01

What can you say about Townes Van Zandt? A goddamn genius. A songwriter whose mastery of the language puts him closer to Dylan Thomas than to Bob Dylan in the artist's spectrum.

The best album for Townes Van Zandt newcomers might be "Rear View Mirror," with many of the classics performed live. But since the mission of Armchair Reviews is to dispense advice you might not get elsewhere, I'll put in a plug for my favorite Townes record, "At My Window."

It's not a perfect album, but there's a Townes standard ("For the Sake of the Song") and several sublime takes on favorite themes: wanderlust ("Snowin' on Raton"), lost love&time ("Catfish Song") and the forlorn-but-hopeful quest ("Lookin' for You," which opens presciently: "There ain't much that I ain't tried; fast living, slow suicide"). These are common themes but Townes never resorts to cliche, keeps it simple, and beautiful.

There are a couple mediocrities on the album. And two of my favorite songs ever sung by anybody, anytime. The title track, "At My Window" pulls you into a slow afternoon's musings set to Mark O'Connor's lazy-soaring violin and Townes' meandering thoughts: "Daydreams, aloft on dark wings, soft as the sun streams at day's decline; Living is laughing and dying says nothing at all; Babe and I lying here, watching the evening fall."

And then there's "Buckskin Stallion Blues." A blues that sounds more like a Navajo ceremonial, rising from a dark hogan in a desert canyon; tamborine and flute swirling over a guitar that breaks into a trot as Townes' tenor goes from broody to despondent. He sings: "I heard her sing in tongues of silver; I heard her cry on a summer storm." And I get goose bumps.