Monthly Archives: July 2016

What we’re listening to — Townes Van Zandt’s Pancho and Lefty by Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard and Emmylou Harris

“Pancho and Lefty,” written by the great cult country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt, is one of those supremely evocative songs that is both touching and enigmatic. Obliquely telling the story of Pancho, a Mexican bandit similar to the legendary Pancho Villa, and Lefty, a broken down singer who may or may not have set up Pancho to be taken and killed by the Federales, the song saw its biggest success on Willie Nelson & the late Merle Haggard’s 1983 collaboration, Pancho and Lefty. The title track reached #1 on the country charts and it’s easy to hear why today

With Willie Nelson’s inimitably reedy talk-singing laying out the story in touching but unsentimental manner for two-thirds of the track and then Haggard’s instantly recognizable Bakersfield baritone coming in for the last verse and joining Willie for the last choruses, their “Pancho and Lefty” is a world weary tale of a bandit’s rise and fall and the more nuanced discontents of an aging singer. Miles away from the ultra-slick country confections of the time, it’s easy to see how the song’s bittersweet story arc would appeal to these gritty veteran country music outlaws.

But there is an even earlier version of “Pancho and Lefty” that gives the song’s moving mini-saga an achingly beautiful feminine retelling. One of the highlights of the supernaturally gifted vocalist Emmylou Harris’s 1977 standout album, Luxury Liner, her version of “Pancho and Lefty” was actually the first cover of this much-covered song. It’s also arguably still the best.

Famed as a great duettist and muse, most notably on Gram Parsons’ best solo recordings, Harris shows that she is more than up for leading a band and dominating a tune as a solo artist. With her utterly unique and ethereal soprano front and center, Harris’s version not only puts forward the tale of the outlaw and the singer as written but also seems to be bringing forward an even deeper level of meaning as relates to the song’s author. When she sings: “The poets tell how Poncho fell/And Lefty’s livin’ in a cheap hotel/The desert’s quiet, Cleveland’s cold/And so the story ends we’re told/Pancho needs your prayers, it’s true/Save a few for Lefty too/He only did what he had to do/And now he’s growin’ old” the connection that this is Van Zandt’s lonesome autobiography — and that he might think of himself as both the outlaw and the singer — really hits home. As great and enjoyably leathery as the Nelson-Haggard version is, it’s the lovely and soulful Emmylou Harris take that I’d pick to move me — and breath life into the spirit of Townes Van Zandt — every day of the week.

2016 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton grabs pole in drying conditions in Austria, Rosberg P2 but pushed back by penalty; Nico Hulkenberg a splendid P3 for Force India

In a bizarre qualifying session in Austria that saw the Red Bull Ring’s excessive curbing cause rear suspension failure on several cars, including a spectacular accident by Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took advantage of rapidly drying conditions after a rain shower in Q3 to grab the pole time. With one driver after another hurrying to change from Intermediate wet tires onto slicks, the leaderboard shuffled with each passing second in thrilling fashion, as each car that crossed the start-finish line seemed to go faster than the one that preceded it. But in the end it was Hamilton who shone the brightest, willing his Mercedes to the pole and denying a miracle top spot to sentimental and seemingly feasible aspirants like Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari’s Number 2, Kimi Raikonnen. Better yet for Hamilton, his teammate and Championship points leader Nico Rosberg, while taking second in terms of pure speed, will be forced to start back in P7 come race day due to a gearbox change necessitated by his own suspension failure in free Practice 3. So despite reestablishing himself after a run a poor finishes with his dominant victory in the European GP in Baku, Azerbaijan two weeks ago, the German has been put on the back foot again and sees his Silver Arrows teammate & archrival Hamilton threatening to sail away on this high speed circuit. Perhaps Nico will be praying for rain to open up some strategic possibilities come Sunday. Or perhaps he will be hoping that Hamilton takes one too many curbs of his own tomorrow and is forced to retire prematurely.

Despite not getting a coveted pole, Hulkenberg did manage a fortuitous P3 for the little Force India team and the even better starting position of P2 after Rosberg’s penalty, a fine opportunity for a car that has looked fast all weekend. Unfortunately his teammate Sergio Perez also suffered suspension failure in Q2 and will start from way back in P16. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel could not overhaul Hulkenberg’s time and was only fast enough for P4. But worse yet for the former 4-time World Champion, Vettel will also be pushed back 5 places due to a gearbox change. That will grant the advantage to teammate Raikkonen, who will start from P4 after qualifying P6. Continue reading