| Live and Obscure | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1987 | |||
| Recorded | April 19, 1985 | |||
| Venue | Twelfth and Porter, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Length | 42:44 | |||
| Label | Heartland (UK) | |||
| Producer | Stephen J. Mendell, Townes Van Zandt | |||
| Townes Van Zandt chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
Live and Obscure is a live album released by folk/country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt in 1987. It was recorded at Twelfth and Porter in Nashville, Tennessee in April 1985.
Although Van Zandt had always been known primarily as a solo performer, by the mid-1980s he had expanded his touring band with the addition of Leland Waddell on drums, his brother David on bass, and Boston transplant Donny Silverman on saxophone and flute. The group was rounded out by Van Zandt's longtime guitarist Mickey White, who recalled to Van Zandt biographer John Kruth in 2007, "Unfortunately the rehearsals just turned into big drunken orgies with everybody arguing all the time. We'd just get drunk and wind up screaming at each other. If we'd been sober, we woulda been a great band." The band gigged around Texas mostly, but Van Zandt eventually realized that hauling a full band around with him was a logistical nightmare, and by the time his manager Harold Eggers booked the show at Twelfth and Porter in Nashville, the Waddell rhythm section had been abandoned.
According to the book To Live's To Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt, the show was well hyped, with Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, and Neil Young attending to see Van Zandt perform, although the book quotes White as saying, "I didn't like the way it was recorded and tried to talk Townes out of releasing it." In his 2018 memoir My Years with Townes Van Zandt: Music, Genius, and Rage, road manager and business partner Harold Eggers takes credit for suggesting the idea of recording the show at the 12th and Porter show and getting leading music writer Robert K. Oermann to write an article in The Tennessean titled "Poet Laureate of Texas' Rambles into Music City" to hype the concert. Eggers writes:
The room was filled with Townes's people. Nashville's top producers and engineers, songwriters, and performers were there...Bee Spears, John Prine, Jack Clement, and so many more...It was a gala "Welcome Back, Townes" party, and you would have thought Hank Williams Sr. himself had risen and returned to do one last show...you could hear a pin drop – until each song ended, when the applause and cheers nearly blew off the roof.
AllMusic praises Live and Obscure, noting that "The rambling Texas troubadour did not disappoint his fans, peers, and colleagues that night...In this intimate setting, Van Zandt's aw-shucks charm comes through not just his songs, but his in-between banter."
All songs written by Townes Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt, also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actor, and activist. He is best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin. He is also known for his roles on television drama series, such as Silvio Dante on The Sopranos (1999–2007) and Frank Tagliano on Lilyhammer (2012–2014). Van Zandt has his own solo band called Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul, active on and off since the 1980s. In 2014, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band. Van Zandt has produced music, wrote songs, or had his own songs covered by Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Jackson Browne, Gary U.S. Bonds, Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector, Jimmy Barnes, Meat Loaf, Pearl Jam, and more.
John Townes Van Zandt was an American singer-songwriter. He wrote numerous songs, such as "Pancho and Lefty", "For the Sake of the Song", "Tecumseh Valley", "Rex's Blues", and "To Live Is to Fly", that are widely considered masterpieces of American songwriting. His musical style has often been described as melancholy and features rich, poetic lyrics. During his early years, Van Zandt was respected for his guitar playing and fingerpicking ability.
Outlaw country is a subgenre of American country music, most popular during the 1970s and early 1980s. Outlaw country often centers around outlaws or prisoners opposing law enforcement, or on the lifestyles of criminals "on the lam" and their relationships with substance abuse and poverty. It is sometimes referred to as the outlaw movement or simply outlaw music.
David Charles Olney was an American folk singer-songwriter. Olney recorded more than twenty albums over his five-decade career. His songs have been covered by numerous artists, including Emmylou Harris, Del McCoury, Linda Ronstadt and Steve Earle.
Richard James Joseph Dobson II was an American singer-songwriter and author. Dobson was part of the outlaw country movement and spent time in the 1970s with Townes Van Zandt, Mickey White, Rex "Wrecks" Bell, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, and "Skinny" Dennis Sanchez.
Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas is a double live album by Texas singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. The recording captures Van Zandt in a series of July 1973 performances in an intimate venue Old Quarter. There is a strong critical consensus that this recording is among the most exemplary of Van Zandt's career.
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt is a 1972 studio album by Texas singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. It was the second album that he recorded in 1972, and a follow-up to High, Low and In Between.
For the Sake of the Song is the debut album by country singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, released in 1968. The majority of the songs, including the title track, "Tecumseh Valley", "(Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria", "Waitin' Around to Die", and "Sad Cinderella", were re-recorded in more stripped-down versions for subsequent studio albums.
Our Mother the Mountain is the second album by country singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, released in 1969. It is considered to be one of his greatest recordings and features some of his best known works, including "Be Here To Love Me", "Snake Mountain Blues" and "Our Mother The Mountain".
Delta Momma Blues is the fourth album by the country singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, released in 1971. Unlike his previous albums, which were influenced by Appalachian folk and country music and recorded in Nashville, this album was blues influenced and recorded in New York City.
High, Low and In Between is an album by country singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, released in 1971. The album was recorded in L.A. and showcases what Van Zandt himself considered to be one of his most well written songs: "To Live Is To Fly".
Together at the Bluebird Café is a live recording of an "in-the-round" concert by three critically acclaimed Texan singer-songwriters, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. Each alternates between solo performances.
Flyin' Shoes is an album released by folk/country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt in 1978. It was his first album of original material in five years and was produced by Chips Moman.
At My Window is an album released by folk/country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt in 1987. This was Van Zandt's first studio album in the nine years that followed 1978's Flyin' Shoes, and his only studio album recorded in the 1980s.
Heartworn Highways is a documentary film by James Szalapski whose vision captured some of the founders of the Outlaw Country movement in Texas and Tennessee in the last weeks of 1975 and the first weeks of 1976. The film was not released theatrically until 1981.
Roadsongs is a live album of cover songs released by folk/country singer–songwriter Townes Van Zandt in 1994.
The Nashville Sessions is an album by Texas singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt, recorded in 1973 but not released until 1993. The tracks were originally recorded for what would have been Van Zandt's seventh album, but was not released until twenty years later due to a dispute between producer Jack Clement and Poppy Records founder Kevin Eggers. The record has been described those who knew Van Zandt as a crucial "missing link" in his discography.
Soulfire is the sixth studio album by Little Steven, released on May 19, 2017. It marks his first studio album since 1999's Born Again Savage. The album consists of Van Zandt's versions of songs that he either wrote or co-wrote for other artists and describes it as "me covering me!" In June 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Soulfire number 28 on their list of the "50 Best Albums of 2017 So Far."
Sky Blue is a posthumous album by Texas singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt, recorded in 1973 but not released until 2019. All tracks were recorded in early 1973 at the Atlanta, Georgia, home studio of Bill Hedgespeth, a journalist, musician, and longtime friend of Van Zandt. Its 2019 release was conceived by Townes’ surviving family—his wife and literary executor Jeanene, along with his children, J.T., Will, and Katie Bell.
Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe is a music "Listening Room" in Galveston, Texas founded by Rex "Wrecks" Bell. Originally a bar Old Quarter, it was opened in Houston, Texas in 1965 by Rex Bell and Cecil Slayton. The Old Quarter is most well-known as the venue for Townes Van Zandt live album Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas. The song Rex's Blues from the album was written about Rex Bell whom Van Zandt remarked upon during the recorded live performance. The reopened Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe in Galveston, Texas features recurring "open mic" acoustic music performances.