HOME AT LAST!
Remembering Townes Van Zandt
(MARCH 7, 1944 – JANUARY 1, 1997)

“Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” Steve Earle (to which Townes replied, “Bob wouldn’t let Steve Earle get anywhere near his coffee table.”)

New Mexican artist Veronica Piastuch, unveiled HOME AT LAST!, her tribute oil painting to Texas legend, Townes Van Zandt, at the South Broadway Cultural Center, 1025 Broadway SE in Albuquerque, on October 31, 1998.. During November 1st and 2nd, the Mesoamerican Day of the Dead celebrates the happy memories of life. It honors our ancestors and loved ones who have come before us. It is a joyous celebration of honoring the dead with processions to the cemetery where song and food are offered. Altars (ofrendas) are constructed in the home for the departed that offer the things that they loved in this life . Masks, special bread, paper cut-outs, figurines, candy sugar skulls are created. Ancient songs and dances are performed. This celebration includes poking fun at death and coming to a place of peace about our own passing as a natural cycle. On El Dia de Los Muertos the souls of the departed return to share a feast with the living. For Veronica, this holiday serves as a healing vehicle for all the loved ones she has lost.

Veronica met Townes back in 1985 when she was working with folksinger, Eric Andersen in New York CIty. “Eric and Townes would tour together. I handled our record company business including press. Eric still talks about the time he and Townes came to New Mexico trying to discover which one of them was Pancho and which one was Lefty. “

Townes was born of the Van Zandt family, one of the founding fathers of Texas and left a privileged background to follow people like Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie and Lightnin’ Hopkins. Townes was a songwriter’s songwriter. He bridged country and blues and as Townes would say, “There’s only two kinds of music; the blues and zippety-doo-dah”. Billboard called him the Van Gogh of lyrics while recently, the Guardian in England called him the James Joyce of lyrics. Many well-respected musicians (Eric Andersen, Bob Dylan, the Cowboy Junkies, Nancy Griffith, Guy Clark, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Rodney Crowell, Peter Rowan, Emmy Lou Harris, Steve Earle, Neil Young just to name a few) covered his songs and respected Townes greatly . Lyle Lovett has four of Townes’ songs on his new CD. Nancy Griffith dedicated a CD to him. Austin City Limits held a tribute to him where some of the aforementioned musicians played. A compilation CD is being planned with many artists invited to do duets. The movie “The Big Lebowski” used his cover of “Dead Flowers” at the end of the movie. “Even though the physical Townes is gone, his spirit is still hovering over us,” says Piastuch.

“When I received news of his death, I cried for days on end...I still cry when I listen to his music which I did continually while painting. It was a hard painting to do because of the emotional closeness I felt. It took nine months to finish...like birthing a baby. He touches a deep part of my soul. He wrote the song, “Snowing on Raton.” On the day of his memorial service in Nashville, I awoke to a sky threatening to snow...on that day it really did snow on Raton. This past November, I heard him talk to me in my head. He wanted a painting. I am very serious. When he passed over, I envisioned a painting. The end result was nothing like I first envisioned. The painting is called “HOME AT LAST!” which his wife and publisher, Jeanene, titled. ‘She said, “People always looked upon Townes as a traveling troubadour, always on the road. What people forget is that he had a family for 16 years.’

The painting was done on some sort of mystical level where synchronicity ruled. First off, he died on the same day as his idol Hank Williams. I saw a family photo (Townes, Jeanene, Katie Belle and Will) on Jeanene’s official website where she manages Van Zandt Central and sells his music and merchandise. (http://www.townesvanzandt.com ). I got chills. I saw Angel wings enfolding and protecting his family. I contacted Jeanene, whom I hadn’t spoken with in years. She was pleased to hear from me and she helped me in every way possible to get the painting birthed. She also was astounded as Townes apparently also spoke to a screenwriter friend of theirs , shooting through the top of her head as he did mine. He wanted a movie based on Pancho and Lefty (this song reached Number One status in 1983 for Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard). The screenplay has been written. The odd thing was that he wanted the film to be based around El Dia de Los Muertos. Jeanene’s reaction was “I guess he’s writing movies now... now he wants a Day of the Dead painting”. So the work began. I tried to put everything in the painting that mattered to Townes; his family, his faith, his gambling, his love of Colorado and New Mexico, his guitar and suitcase. I even put a dying fire pit in it. Townes had a need to keep a fire lit while at home. He doesn’t need it anymore nor the alcohol. Song titles are depicted as well and Jeanene put 13 songs on his website that are connected to this painting. His older son JT is on Townes “Houseboat to Heaven’ fly fishing. The banner has some of the lyrics of the first song he wrote for Jeanene, “I Ain’t Leavin’ Your Love”. I had no idea of this fact when I put it in the painting. Here is part of what his son JT said as he spoke for the family at Townes' memorial service in Nashville. Jeanene sent this to me after she got chills reading about the angel wings I intended.”

“I didn't take alot of the things he said in the latter part of his life real seriously, Just trying to get him to where someone could drive the vehicle, Holding his arms down or whatever it took, (laughs) but he always spoke of a white angel who would spread her wings around him, then he knew he'd be all right on the road in Europe or here in the states, that was his savior. Otherwise he saw goblins or whatever else his mind at that point brought to his vision. And I'd say, "Yea, yea Townes, whatever gets you through the night." After a show in Juneau, Alaska a shaman Eskimo priestess was escorted to him and they spoke on a level I can't comprehend and not many of us can. She told him that he didn't fall off of his stool and was able to play that night because a white angel was supporting him and I thought he truly does have the strongest and most spiritual connection to this world and all that is real. I'll always have the hum of his wheels in my heart and he was a beautiful man.” John Townes Van Zandt II

I have a Day of the Dead altar in the painting with a marigold trail leading to Townes and his spirit. The painting, which I am giving to his family, re-members him with all that he loved.

Townes was a very special soul. He was kind, humble, funny in a corny kind of way which made him even more endearing and totally accessible to another human being. I feel lucky to have known him. When we visited Townes and Jeanene in Nashville, I was floored when his entire wall was covered with Gideon Bibles he had “collected” from hotel stays. My husband “won” Townes’ shirt and his house in a card game...of course we didn’t take either. I have funny stories about Townes at gigs such as the time Townes won a barmaid and the entire collection of pots and pans from a club in a card game after the show. He didn’t take either as Jeanene would have ‘killed him’ for the barmaid and he had no use of the pots and pans because he was on the road.

If you read Jeanene’s account of his death, it really wasn’t from the hard living and the alcohol...it was a result of hip surgery. Currently, Jeanene manages his company and in June held the first yearly Townesfest at her home near Nashville. In a recent letter, Eric Andersen said, ‘Your painting of Townes and family was great. A fantastic work. Halo and all. I think he’d love it if he could see it. But maybe he can.’ ” Peter Rowan called the painting "luminous." I still think of Townes alot especially when it snows in New Mexico. Townes, you are missed.

Veronica Piastuch