He had the temerity and mordant sense of humor to name his 1972 album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt a full quarter-century before he actually shuffled off this mortal coil on New Years Day, 1997. Then again, Townes Van Zandt always zigged when everyone expected him to zag, in his life and his songwriting.
That album contained “Pancho And Lefty,” perhaps his most enduring and well-known song in a career that was more impactful in terms of its influence rather than its popularity. Van Zandt’s songs often became widely known only when someone would do a cover version of them, such as when Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard made this song a #1 country hit in 1983.
