Fort Worth Blues

Fort Worth's legendary son, Townes Van Zandt, left this world on New Year's Day, 1997. Townes died on the same day as his hero, Hank Williams. Strangely enough, the poet Miller Williams, Lucinda's father, who was known as the "Hank Williams of Poetry," died on New Year's Day last year. This week I have been listening to Townes Van Zandt's The Highway Kind album (Sugar Hill, 1997) which includes ghostly, introspective versions of Hank Williams' "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle" and "Lost Highway."

In recent years, New Year's Day has become a memorial day of sorts for me. But I do not look at it as a day of sorrow, but rather as a day of reflection on the ephemeral nature of life. It is a feeling akin to the one I have in places like Florence, Bruges, or Prague. When I am in those cities, I think, "A master carved this statue with his hands, and now he is gone, lost to our ken, but the beauty he created remains to inspire us until we too will consort with the dust, and others will marvel at the beauty."

Steve Earle's song, "Fort Worth Blues," was written for Townes shortly after his death. Here is a link to the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4WOys7sWvU