Townes Van Zandt - Stopping Off Place (The Walkabouts cover)

Written by Chris Eckman (for The Walkabouts album "Devil's Road"), this cover is from Townes Van Zandt's album "In Pain".

From The Walkabouts (www.thewalkabouts.com) page:

On January 1, 1997, Townes Van Zandt left for good. Only shortly after, Chris Eckman's written piece "Reflections on Townes Van Zandt" was published on this website. There he writes, "Two weeks ago we received a tape in the mail from Wolfgang, a friend of both Townes and ours. On the tape was a recording of Townes singing one of our songs, 'The Stopping-Off Place' ('move along, cannot stay'). A smile never left my face for days. It was a huge gesture of kindness, that sadly we will never be able to repay."

Listening to this recording, it sounds as if Townes is almost dying before the microphone. And in a way he was, too - it was recorded in November 1996, only a few months before he died. It's so scary... And at the same time it is touching to hear how bravely he struggles to make it to the end of the song, only making the hugeness of the gesture from Townes to Chris and the Walkabouts even greater.