LimeWire Music Blog

There have been a number of tributes to the late, great country/folk outlaw poet Townes Van Zandt, but this one offers an interesting angle, coming as it does from an underground alt-folk perspective. The artists taking part range from cult heroes (Jad Fair of Half Japanese, The Lilac Time’s Stephen Duffy, The Be Good Tanyas, Fleet Foxes member J. Tillman) to the esoteric (Gustav Haggren, Kate Maki). Most of the performers take an understated, acoustic-based approach to the material, which works out well, as clobbering these carefully wrought tunes with overly clever arrangements would only obscure their worth. Canadian indie-folk outfit Great Lake Swimmers offer a marvelously understated take on one of Townes’ most mysterious, evocative ballads, the spooky, surreal “Our Mother the Mountain.” Tillman turns in what may be the most strikingly low-key moment on the album with his slow, sad trek through “My Proud Mountains,” his moody whisper suggesting the voice of the songwriter speaking from beyond. Jad Fair is as quirky/cool as ever, with a characteristically discordant deconstruction of the bluesy “Turnstyled, Junkpiled.” In tackling a songbook as titanic as that of Townes, it’s easy to miss the mark, but the unassuming approach taken here keeps the proceedings consistently close to the target.