Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt

After such a long post last time, I plan for this one to be long on music and short on text.  If there’s a narrative to capture here, it’s that I think “Pancho and Lefty” has become a favorite for singer-songwriters and performers following in Van Zandt’s footsteps because the outlaw narrative is one that resonates with their own peculiar experiences of “living on the road.”  This is a point that Pat recently drew out in his discussion of the Grateful Dead’s collective persona in the era of American Beauty. 


As I mentioned in the last post, Emmylou Harris’s performance of “Pancho and Lefty” became the launching point of many covers to follow, most importantly, I suppose, for record sales, the duet version recorded by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.  Nelson explains the story here, in a clip that includes an inset of another live performance by Van Zandt.







The duet version with Nelson and Haggard became one of the most commonly known, and is, I expect, reliably what you’ll be offered if you elect to sing the song at your local karaoke bar.  As much respect as I have for Nelson and Haggard as musicians and singers, I do have a hard time with the production values of their studio recording, particularly the introduction.


“Pancho and Lefty” by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard (Spotify)


Happily, things improve a bit in live performance.







This version really highlights Nelson’s idiosyncratic style of delivery (noted in the Allmusic review in the last post.).  I also like how in this version, Haggard seems to sing “I just did what he had to do.”  Nelson and Haggard are, of course, rather overtly self-styled outlaws, Haggard’s credentials being amassed partly through hard time, before the launch of his musical career.  As I’m sure we’ll explore later, he comes at this business of sin and redemption with a kind of compassion probably only found on the other side of a prison sentence and a pardon.  

Merle Haggard

When Van Zandt’s musical protege, Steve Earle, got around to putting together an album of Van Zandt’s songs, “Pancho and Lefty” was the first to take on, for reasons he explains best here.





“Pancho and Lefty,” by Steve Earle (Spotify)


For my money, Earle’s version is the most faithful to the core energy of the song.  Van Zandt’s influence on Earle was tremendous, and there are more than a few interesting stories about how that played out.  Earle tells some of them here in a fascinating interview with the CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi.  Earle makes clear in the interview that his ambition in creating his record was to emulate his recollection of Van Zandt’s live performances of the song.  That rings true to me in his performances.  


It’s also clear from the interview that living on the road did not suffice to keep either Van Zandt or Earle living free and clean.


Pushing the outlaw musical theme, perhaps, Hammerlock gives us a punk version of “Pancho and Lefty,” reminiscent of Rise Against’s cover of “The Ballad of Hollis Brown,” which Shaleane featured in a recent post.  


“Pancho and Lefty,” by Hammerlock (Spotify)




Back over the Pond


Despite its recent American origin and distinctively Southwestern setting, “Pancho and Lefty” has found its way into the repertoires of British and Scottish singers, one of whom at least, I think, resonates with the outlaw aspect.


The Poozies do a fine job of capturing the song, more mournful and Celtic, perhaps, but still mostly on target.





“Poncho and Lefty,” by the Poozies (Spotify)


Scottish folk singer Dick Gaughan provides a strong and distinctive version on his album Redwood Cathedral.  I can’t find a YouTube performance, but you can listen here on Spotify:


“Pancho and Lefty,” by Dick Gaughan (Spotify)


The thing that makes me think Gaughan also taps into the “troubadour as outlaw” trope is his subsequently-recorded song “Outlaws and Dreamers.”  Here he is in a live performance, and it’s not too hard to imagine that he’d include Townes Van Zandt in the “links in a chain” saluted in this song.





“Outlaws and Dreamers,” by Dick Gaughan (Spotify)  (Lyrics)


Next up


With that small bit of the legacy of songs perhaps inspired, at least in part, by “Pancho and Lefty,” I’ll turn in my next post to a few others that tap into some of the core themes of “Pancho and Lefty,” at least as they relate to murder ballads.


Before leaving this post, though, here’s one more sublime cover–from Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, from about 15 years ago.  No actual video here, but the audio is terrific.