Townes Van Zandt Documentary

[Jahfin]

http://tinylink.com/?CstnB6bxux

The artistry and tragedy of Townes Van Zandt

By JENNIE PUNTER
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

''People who love Townes Van Zandt love Townes -- he doesn't have non-obsessive fans,'' says Margaret Brown, on the phone from Austin, Tex., one day after putting the final touches on Be Here to Love Me, her eloquent documentary about the legendary and influential Texas singer-songwriter. The film had its world premiere screening Monday night, as part of the Toronto International Film Festival's Real to Reel program, and screens again this morning.

While Brown counts herself among the obsessed when it comes to the music of Van Zandt, who died on New Year's Day, 1997, at age 52, her film is certainly not a work of hagiography nor is it a behind-the-music-style survey of triumphs and scandals. With a delicate, wistful artistry, Be Here to Love Me explores the universal theme of the artist who lives for his art, in the case of Van Zandt, one who eschews the expectations of his heritage (he was born into a wealthy Texas family), fellow musicians, family, critics and fans in the pursuit of lyrical and sonic perfection.

"I didn't want simply to recount the facts," says Brown, who weaves together a wide variety of archival material (TV appearances, home movies, photographs etc.), interviews with musicians, school friends and family (Van Zandt's sister, his widow Jeanene, two ex-wives and three of his children), with beautifully rendered visual "bridges" that impart a sense of movement and the passage of time.

"Townes was this itinerant traveller, and so the film has a lot of time travel, a lot of skipping around. Even though it does move chronologically from his childhood to death, I didn't want it to feel that way. So sometimes there's a performance or narration by Townes from a different period than the image on the screen."

In the editing suite, Brown's surprising inspiration was a Canadian film, François Girard's acclaimed feature 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould. "I made my editor watch that film," she says with a laugh. "Even though it's not a documentary, the idea of how that film was put together was very fresh to me, and what I took away from it was the feeling that you know everything you need to know about Glenn Gould by the end of the film."

When it comes to musical artistry, Leonard Cohen is perhaps the Canadian whose stature one could more closely compare with Van Zandt: a songwriter's songwriter.

Cover versions of his introspective ballads and gloriously rambling tales are more widely known than his original recordings -- one senses Brown could have made an entire film about Pancho and Lefty, Van Zandt's best-known song, first covered by Emmylou Harris and later, in duet form, by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard (Harris and Nelson appear in the film). Toronto's Cowboy Junkies (Van Zandt wrote two songs for their 1992 album Black-Eyed Man), the Tindersticks and Norah Jones are just a few artists who have paid musical homage.

Van Zandt's influence on other artists stretches back to his troubadour days in the sixties, playing Texas folk clubs and juke joints. The film opens with an early story of his legend as told by Joe Ely, who met this "scarecrow" of a man with a backpack filled with copies of his recently recorded album. Ely played it for fellow Lubbock, Tex., musician Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and the two young men listened to it over and over for weeks. "It made us rethink what a song was all about," Ely recalls.

While Van Zandt's music is the constant soundtrack of Be Here to Love Me, the film is filled end to end with riveting stories, including some harrowing ones related to Van Zandt's heavy drinking and substance abuse as well as plenty of humorous yarns, many told by the artist himself in archival material.

Brown brings a "front porch" sensibility to the film's storytelling ebb and flow. Born in Mobile, Ala., she studied film in New York and has made a few short films. Her father is country songwriter Milton Brown, who wrote Every Which Way But Loose (and who attended the Monday premiere).

"In Alabama, what people do for fun in the summer is sit on the porch and tell stories, family stories or ghost stories," she says. "I think there is something of that in the film, it's definitely a southern film about a group of people who love telling stories."

Brown, who made the documentary over a four-year period, used her front-porch skills to convince Austin cinematographer Lee Daniel, known for his work with director Richard Linklater, to come on board. "I was working with another shooter for a while, but he lives in San Francisco," recalls Brown. "My production co-ordinator said, 'We could call Lee but he's real expensive.' So I visited Lee and hung out on his front porch. He was building a house and sawing the lumber and I told him how I wanted to make the film. He knew Townes and connected with what I was saying. I would say the visual style of the film is really Lee's."

Through all the musical and storytelling eloquence on display in Be Here to Love Me, one of the most emotional moments comes when the legendary Nashville-based singer-songwriter and colourful raconteur Guy Clark describes the joy his friend Townes Van Zandt imparted with his music circa 1965, before life got too messy.

"He was just perfect," says Clark, whom you suspect is never at a loss for words. His voice waivers and suddenly you feel like he just might cry. "He had songs that took your breath away."

[jbfinscj]

Townes was such a great songwriter. "Live at the Old Quarter" is a great live album of his.

[Jahfin]

Townes was such a great songwriter. "Live at the Old Quarter" is a great live album of his.

I also highly recommend the Heartworn Highways documentary (now available in an extended edition on DVD) with Townes, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, David Allan Coe, Steve Young and Charlie Daniels in case you've never seen it.

[jbfinscj]

Townes was such a great songwriter. "Live at the Old Quarter" is a great live album of his.

I also highly recommend the Heartworn Highways documentary (now available in an extended edition on DVD) with Townes, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, David Allan Coe, Steve Young and Charlie Daniels in case you've never seen it.

Hey Jahfin,

The Kasey Chambers album, I am still undecided. Any new opinions on her new album.

[Jahfin]

Townes was such a great songwriter. "Live at the Old Quarter" is a great live album of his.

I also highly recommend the Heartworn Highways documentary (now available in an extended edition on DVD) with Townes, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, David Allan Coe, Steve Young and Charlie Daniels in case you've never seen it.

Hey Jahfin,

The Kasey Chambers album, I am still undecided. Any new opinions on her new album.

I've still only given it the one listen but I'd say if you liked her first two you'll like this one.