Townes Van Zandt (March 7 1944 - January 1 1997) was a country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet. Throughout his career he was widely admired by fellow songwriters, particularly in the folk and country genres, but greater fame eluded him, in part because of his unconventional vocal style and in part because of his erratic personal behavior. Many of his songs, including "Pancho and Lefty," "If I Needed You," and "To Live Is to Fly," have been recorded by other notable performers and are considered standards of their genre.

Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997) was a singer-songwriter , born in Texas to a life on the road. Van Zandt was master of the small, intimate folk performance, such as the July 1973 show that became Live At The Old Quarter Houston, Texas , the double album on Tomato Records. As the Austin Chronicle writes of the re-released CD, “Alone with a guitar, he hushes the crowd with his visionary tunes that are by turns haunting and eccentric, yet filled with beauty and dark shadows.” Despite chronic battl