Sky Blue (Townes Van Zandt album)

Sky Blue is a posthumous album by Texas singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt, recorded in 1973 but not released until 2019.^[1] All tracks were recorded in early 1973 at the Atlanta, Georgia, home studio of Bill Hedgepeth, a journalist, musician, and longtime friend of Van Zandt.^[2] Its 2019 release was conceived by Townes' surviving family—his wife and literary executor Jeanene, along with his children, J.T., Will, and Katie Bell.^[1]

Sky Blue
Studio album by Townes Van Zandt
Released	March 7, 2019
Recorded	Atlanta, Georgia, 1973
Length	34:11
Label	TVZ Records, Fat Possum Records
Townes Van Zandt chronology
Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions & Demos 1971–1972 (2013) Sky Blue (2019)

Tracks

Sky Blue consists of 11 previously unreleased recordings, including two tracks which had never been released, "All I Need" and "Sky Blue."^[3] The album also features three covers, the traditional folk song "Hills of Roane County", Richard Dobson's "Forever For Always For Certain", and Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind".^[4] There are three original tracks which had been released on previous albums; a version of "Blue Ridge Mountains Blues (Smokey Version)" titled simply "Blue Ridge Mountains" first appeared on Townes' 1972 album High, Low, and in Between.^[5] 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. "Dream Spider" (as "The Spider Song") would not be released until 1993 as part of The Nashville Sessions, a collection of recordings intended to be on his seventh album, Seven Come Eleven.^[4]

Critical reception

Sky Blue received positive reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. It has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 10 reviews.^[8] Writing for Pitchfork, Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the release a 6.9 out of 10.^[2] Jim Allen of NPR considers it a document of Van Zandt's best work.^[4] Fred Thomas of the editorial staff of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, with reviewer Fred Thomas writing that "glimmers of brilliance" can be heard on it.^[9] In Rolling Stone, Jonathan Bernstein gave the album 3.5 out of five stars.^[10] Elisabeth Woronzoff of PopMatters gave it a positive review in light of the artist's enigmatic career,^[11] as did Matt Mellis of Consequence.^[12]

Track listing

All lyrics and music by Townes Van Zandt except where noted.

1. "All I Need" – 2:52
2. "Rex's Blues" – 2:15
3. "The Hills of Roane County" (traditional) – 3:53
4. "Sky Blue" – 2:34
5. "Forever, for Always, for Certain" (Richard Dobson) – 2:28
6. "Blue Ridge Mountain Blues" (Smoky Version) – 2:58
7. "Pancho and Lefty" – 3:54
8. "Snake Song" – 2:08
9. "Silver Ships of Andilar" – 5:30
10. "Dream Spider" – 1:57
11. "The Last Thing on My Mind" (Tom Paxton) – 3:42