timeline

Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas

A double album of solo sets from a Houston bar, recorded in 1973 and released in 1977.
Townes Van Zandt, 1977

Released
1977
Recorded
July 1973
Studio
The Old Quarter, Houston
Label
Tomato
Producer
Earl Willis
Length
92:40
Type
live

Earl Willis recorded it on a portable four-track over several nights in July 1973 at the Old Quarter, a Houston bar owned by Rex "Wrecks" Bell and Dale Soffar. Kevin Eggers issued it on his new Tomato label in 1977 as a double LP, mixed at Northwestern Sound Studios in Lima, Ohio and mastered at Mediasound in New York. The liner notes by Willis, Chet Flippo and Arthur Wood call it the Rosetta Stone of Texas music.

Soffar introduces him, Townes apologises for the broken air conditioning, and before Pancho and Lefty he explains that he wrote it while travelling near Dallas with Daniel Antopolsky. Waiting Around to Die is introduced as his first serious song, and Lungs is here too. Rex's Blues is about Bell. Rolling Stone gave it five stars, and Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes said it made him want to be a better songwriter. A 2003 CoraZong edition added four videos including Pancho and Lefty.

Track listing

  1. Announcement0:44
  2. Pancho & Lefty4:08
  3. Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold3:40
  4. Don't You Take It Too Bad2:57
  5. Two Girls3:51
  6. Fraternity Blues3:07
  7. If I Needed You3:18
  8. Brand New Companion4:20
  9. White Freight Liner Blues3:26
  10. To Live Is to Fly3:20
  11. She Came and She Touched Me4:09
  12. Talking Thunderbird Blues2:33
  13. Rex's Blues3:05
  14. Nine Pound Hammer3:05
  15. For the Sake of the Song4:48
  16. Chauffeur's Blues4:33
  17. No Place to Fall3:09
  18. Loretta2:26
  19. Kathleen2:54
  20. Why She's Acting This Way5:42
  21. Cocaine Blues3:20
  22. Who Do You Love3:44
  23. Tower Song3:47
  24. Waiting 'Round to Die2:35
  25. Tecumseh Valley4:30
  26. Lungs2:34
  27. Only Him or Me2:41

Personnel

More from Townes Van Zandt

For the Sake of the Song (1968), Townes Van Zandt (1969), Our Mother the Mountain (1969), The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (1972), Flyin' Shoes (1978), At My Window (1987), Rear View Mirror (1993), The Nashville Sessions (1993), No Deeper Blue (1994), Sky Blue (2019), Delta Momma Blues, High, Low and In Between

Sources

  1. Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas, Wikipedia
  2. Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas, MusicBrainz
  3. Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas, Discogs
  4. Album review: Townes Van Zandt's Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas, The College Voice (2009-09-28)
  5. Rex "Wrecks" Bell of Rex's Blues and the Old Quarter has died, Saving Country Music