ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Despite the cold, The Ship Pub in St. John’s was cozy last Sunday, filled with the warmth of local musicians paying tribute to one of country music’s most underrated stars: the late, great Townes Van Zandt.
Organized by Armondo Fowlow, “For the Sake of the Song: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt” featured a stacked roster of local musicians showing their love for the American singer-songwriter.
The show kicked off at 9 p.m. with Fowlow performing “Rex’s Blues,” written about Van Zandt’s friend, Rex (Wrecks) Bell. Just before Van Zandt’s death in 1997, Bell purchased the Old Quarter, a Texas nightclub where the musician recorded “Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas,” more than 30 years before.
The Old Quarter came up many times throughout the show, as the artists played many selections from this live double album.
Describing Van Zandt’s lyrics as “beautiful,” “sad” and surprisingly “simple” poetry, Fowlow played “Nothin’” before inviting Yeaton Smith to the stage.
Smith provided comedic relief throughout by spinning tales about the late singer’s turbulent life, which was marked with gambling, alcohol and drug abuse, and, in some cases, cough syrup concoctions. He performed “Lungs,” and “Be Here To Love Me” with Fowlow on dobro, describing the latter song not as happy, but “less morose … about 20 per cent darkness.”
Andrea Monro followed with a love song of sorts, “Like A Summer Thursday.” She described Van Zandt as a “hopeless romantic” who “didn’t have any trouble getting a date for such a train wreck of a human.”
Monro also told a great story involving Van Zandt and Ron Hynes, who shared a bill in Alberta in 1993 during a liquor strike.
Van Zandt asked Hynes to get him a bottle of booze, and when Hynes said he couldn’t due to the strike, Van Zandt told Hynes to tune his guitar and walked away.
“You can imagine how that went over,” Monro added.
As the night went on, each musician told the crowd about their connection to Van Zandt’s music, such as how they were introduced to the artist, or their favourite song or lyric.
Josh Sandu did a rendition of “Only Him or Me” off “Delta Momma Blues,” one of Sandu’s all-time favourite albums.
Andrew Laite, who typically performs with Sandu as the duo Rube & Rake, tackled “Tower Song,” crowdsourcing lyrics from the bar, succeeded by “Colorado Girl.”
His brother, Ryan Laite, was next up. A “late bloomer” to Van Zandt, Laite covered a trio of selections, including “Flying Shoes.”
Renowned in the local country/folk scene, Sherry Ryan followed with “Tecumseh Valley” and “Don't You Take It Too Bad.”
Ryan was introduced to Van Zandt by Paddy Barry. The next performer, Len O’Neill, was turned onto him by Thom Coombes. My introduction actually comes from O’Neill, after he put on “Waitin’ Around To Die” while working at Fred’s Records years ago.
Katie Baggs was the last individual musician of the night, playing the event title’s track, “For the Sake of the Song.”
The crew of musicians jam-packed the stage for the final songs – “White Freightliner Blues,” “Loretta” and Van Zandt’s most famous creation, “Pancho and Lefty.”
Considering the talent of this assembled group of artists, and the sheer number of songs performed – many of which are not even mentioned in this review – “For the Sake of the Song” was a night to remember for any Townes Van Zandt fan – late bloomers, longtime lovers and everyone in between.
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