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Shortly after his admission at Colorado University, Zandt started to suffer from bouts of depression and binge drinking. He later went to the University of Colorado. Zandt attended the Shattuck School in Faribault, Minnesota, and he was a student with high IQ, which is why his parents aspired for him to become a lawyer and a senator. In the same year, the family again had to move to Boulder, Colorado. It was during this period that he was getting greatly influenced by singer Elvis Presley. At Christmas in 1956, ZandtвЂ™s father gave him a guitar, which he practiced while wandering the countryside. In 1952, the family transplanted from Fort Worth to Midland, Texas, for six months before moving to Billings, Montana. He belonged to a wealthy oil family and his father worked as a corporate lawyer. John Townes Van Zandt, better known as Townes Van Zandt, was born on March 7, 1944, in Fort Worth, Texas, to Harris Williams Van Zandt and Dorothy Townes. He died a horrific death due to his drug and alcohol addiction at the age of 52. When he was young, the now-discredited insulin shock therapy erased much of his long-term memory.

#Jerrys guitar bar pancho and lefty series

Zandt suffered from a series of drug addictions, alcoholism, and was given a psychiatric diagnosis of bipolar disorder. His influence has been cited by countless artists across multiple genres, and his music has been recorded or performed by numerous artists, including Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, Counting Crows, Steve Earle, Robert Earl Keen Jr., Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark, Wade Bowen, Gillian Welch, Pat Green, and Natalie Maines. The magic of his songs is that they never leave you alone. He could bring you down to a place so sad that you felt like you were scraping bottom, but just as quickly he could lift your spirits and make you smile at the sparkle of a summer morning or a loved oneвЂ™s eyes or raise a chuckle with a quick and funny talking blues. His music came straight from his soul by way of a kind heart, an honest mind, and a keen ear for the gentle blend of words and melody.

Whether Zandt was singing a quiet, introspective country-folk song or a driving, hungry blues, Van ZandtвЂ™s lyrics and melodies were filled with the kind of haunting truth and beauty that you knew instinctively.

This made him enormously famous at one point in his life, yet he was only interested in planting morning glories, listening to Paul HarveyвЂ™s radio show, and watching the sitcom вЂHappy DaysвЂ™ in a house that had no heating, plumbing or telephone in Nashville. In the late 1980s, Emmylou Harris first popularized ZandtвЂ™s work, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered his song вЂPancho and LeftyвЂ™, which peaked at number one on the Billboard country music charts. But his musical career was only sporadic as his heroin and alcohol addiction and his random check-ins and check-outs from the rehabilitation centers could not help him much in keeping his career steady. He started with singing in the bars and night clubs in Houston and later when his talent was recognized he started coming out with albums.

Zandt was not a very big artist during his lifetime, he only had a small fan base people who used to relate to his singing and written songs. During his early years, Van Zandt was respected for his guitar playing and fingerpicking ability. His musical style has often been described as melancholy and features rich, poetic lyrics.

He produced numerous songs such as вЂњPancho and LeftyвЂќ, вЂњFor the Sake of the SongвЂќ, вЂњTecumseh ValleyвЂќ, вЂњRexвЂ™s BluesвЂќ, and вЂњTo Live is to FlyвЂќ that are widely considered masterpieces of American folk music. 1983вЂ“1994)ДЄmerican country and folk musician, Townes Van Zandt was born on March 7, 1944, in Fort Worth, Texas, United States.