Roadsongs

Townes Van Zandt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 29, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sugarhill
• ASIN: B000000EX1
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,955 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ira Hayes

2. Dead Flowers

3. Automobile Blues

4. Coo Coo

5. Fraulein

6. Hello Central

7. Indian Cowboy

8. Racing in the Streets

9. My Starter Won't Start

10. Texas River Song

11. Wabash Cannonball

12. Short-Haired Woman Blues

13. Man Gave Names to All the Animals

14. Little Willie the Gambler

15. Cocaine Blues

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great recording of covers by artist who usually is covered, September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Roadsongs (Audio CD)

TVZ has had his songs covered by as many varied artist as nearly any singer/songwriter. In a delightful twist, this is a CD by the consummate songwriter, where he covers finely crafted tunes by other songwriters. His voice has never been better (as far as TVZ goes), and he truly makes the songs his own. Highly recommended.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Townes Van Zandt doing his favorite cover songs, April 22, 2001

By 

Bryan (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roadsongs (Audio CD)

Townes Van Zandt is one of the greatest songwriters to come out of Texas. This album doesn't even have one of his songs on it and it's still one of my favorite TVZ albums. Strange, but true.

Here are some of the artists he covers on Roadsongs: Mick Jagger/Keith Richards, Lightnin' Hopkins, Joe Ely, Bruce Springsteen, A. P. Carter, Bob Dylan and others. This is a great album and as the name suggests great driving music.

For those who care. The version of Dead Flowers that Townes covers on this album also shows up on The Big Lebowski soundtrack as well as the movie (It's the song that plays after The Dude and Walter scatter Donnie's ashes).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A CD of other peoples songs covered by Townes Van Zandt, March 21, 2007

By 

Rockthrowingbuddhist (Oregon USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roadsongs (Audio CD)

Here's a CD from one of America's greatest song writers performing other people's songs. I have one rule for assessing cover versions: They must either excel the original version or provide a twist or something radically different from the original.

Townes Van Zandt's interpretations are beautiful and in more than one instance outshine the originals. Cherry picked from various tours in the 80's and 90's, the release should be in the collection of every Townes Van Zandt fan.

For the novice, there are other CDs I would recommend first (Live at The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas e.g.), but this release is my #4 or #5 favorite in my Townes collection.

(Note: there are two versions of this release. The Normal (Germany) release has two extra very good, but not essential tracks. There is some litigation going on between the Van Zandt family and his last manager so at this time, I believe the NORMAL release is going to be difficult to find.)