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"Pancho and Lefty", originally "Poncho and Lefty", [a] is a song written by American country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Perhaps his most well-known song, Van Zandt recorded his original version of this song for his 1972 album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt . [ 14 ]
The album includes what is Van Zandt's signature tune, [citation needed] the enigmatic "Pancho and Lefty", which Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard took to number one on the country charts in 1983. Although "Pancho and Lefty" is the song most associated with Van Zandt, "If I Needed You" is his most covered composition.
Several of Van Zandt's compositions were recorded by other artists, such as Emmylou Harris who, with Don Williams, had a No. 3 country hit in 1981 with "If I Needed You," and Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, the pair taking "Pancho and Lefty" to No. 1 on the country charts in 1983. Van Zandt had a small cameo appearance in the video for the song.
By the middle 1980s, with royalties coming in for "If I Needed You" (a No. 3 country hit for Emmylou Harris and Don Williams in 1981) and "Pancho and Lefty" (a No. 1 country smash for Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard in 1983), Van Zandt was enjoying what was for him a stable home life for the first time with his third wife Jeanene and their new son Will.
Recordings of "Pancho and Lefty" and "Silver Ships of Andilar" had initially appeared on his 1972 album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. A recording of "Rex's Blues" was included in Van Zandt's 1977 live album Live at the Old Quarter [6] and on 1978's Flyin' Shoes. [7] "Snake Song" was also released on Flyin' Shoes.
Roadsongs was overshadowed by the release of No Deeper Blue the same year, which was Van Zandt's first album of original material since 1987's At My Window, but AllMusic calls the album "A snapshot of a true American troubadour doing what he does best: singing about heartbreak in some joint somewhere to folks who know about such things."
Live at McCabe's is a live album recorded by singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt in 1995 and released in 2001. It was recorded at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, California and is a limited edition.
Flyin' Shoes was recorded at American Studios in Nashville. It was produced by Chips Moman. [2] Moman brought several top session musicians in for the recording, including Gary and Randy Scruggs, Muscle Shoals pianist Spooner Oldham and Irish guitarist Philip Donnelly, who had worked with The Everly Brothers. Van Zandt arrived at the sessions ...