Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt

Greetings again from the darkness. The wait for this one to hit Dallas has been long and painful. Just mentioning the name Townes Van Zandt gets me all weepy and longing for those many nights in Austin between the mid 70's and early 80's. Although I only saw him perform live three times, his influence on the Austin music scene was unmatched.

Margaret Brown's directorial touch on this bio-documentary is filled with love, admiration, respect and a harsh dose of reality. Townes was not the typical inflated ego icon so familiar in the music business. Yes, he drank entirely too much and yes, he did way more drugs than any one body could possibly handle. But hearing fellow musicians, three wives and numerous children talk about him, affirmed one thought that I had always clung to: the man had soul.

There are some fascinating film clips of Townes both living life and on stage at various times throughout his "career". When we hear the spoken words "he is here for the music", it all makes sense. We see him unkempt, living in a lousy trailer and in his constant state of gauntness. This man was born to write songs and he did it better than anyone. Near the opening, Joe Ely tells the story of how listening to Townes' first record, forced he and Jimmie Gilmore to totally change their approach to songwriting. Folks, that is talent and power.

The reverence in the voice of Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Steve Earle (three fine songwriters in their own right) as they recollect how Townes touched their music is very base and raw. This is no Hollywood love fest of a dead character actor. This is pure respect from those who truly understand the gift.

The documentary is pretty well paced, but my one quibble is that we do not get to hear Townes perform a song all the way through until he sings "Marie" sometime past the midpoint. Also, I don't believe we had a single track from the "Carnegie Hall" show. That said, there are so many songs included, even if only for a verse, that it will provide a tremendous overview to anyone not already touched by the man's music.

We cannot help but be saddened as the talk of his shock therapy and subsequent change in personality are detailed. Also, hearing his kids speak of him is almost invasive, but what a remarkable gift to the film this is.

One of the producers is the great and under-appreciated Louis Black. He was involved in a film class I took at the University of Texas many years ago and has since gone on to edit an Austin paper and found the SXSW music and film festival. I feel certain his insight was invaluable to the film and sense that Townes Van Zandt music impacted his life the way it did many of us.

I just returned from watching this documentary at the Seattle film festival, and it was wonderful. It should be required viewing for fans of Townes, and it's highly recommended for anyone interested in the phenomenon of an artist giving over his life completely to his art. The director does a great job of presenting the balance between the often tragic events and circumstances of his life and Townes' wonderful sense of humor. There are some bits, musical and otherwise, that Townes fans will probably already have seen, but quite a bit of new footage as well. The director was given access to a wealth of material to put together into this glimpse of the complicated life of Townes, and the interviews done specifically for this film were extremely well done. Some of my favorite bits: Previously unpublished outtakes to the wonderful film Heartworn Highways, showing a much younger Townes. Fascinating sound clips from a box of taped phone conversations, taken by a journalist over a six year time period. Great filmed interviews of Townes's children, including a very spooky clip of Katie Bell, his young daughter, recounting a dream she had about her father that ended in a gravestone being made. And very interview segments with his friends and fellow musicians, notably Guy Clarke. The film goes into general release in the states in December, and a DVD will follow a couple of months after that.

Even if you're not a fan of documentaries, hell, even if you're not a fan of folk/country, Be Here To Love Me is a beautiful and well-directed story of the life of singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt. More than just a movie for hardcore fans of the genre and the artist, the impeccable visual style of the movie keeps the average movie-goer enthralled within it's heartfelt and hilarious interviews of friends, family, and musical contemporaries give dialogue almost too good for a movie.

But then you're reminded that it's a documentary; it's fairly easy to forget. The only narration is the actual audio, be it phone calls (such as in the amazing opening sequence to "At My Window"), home movies, live performances, or the music itself. The camera pans across montages of midwest scenes: old men in the old mens' bars, truck driving, wandering through the desert, and so many others that play like one gorgeous, intermittent music video. Some of the dialogue is unforgettable, be it Townes discussing his addiction to airplane glue, Guy Clark laughing at him hitting on his wife, or his own mother expressing sorrow for exposing him to shock treatments early in his life.

The overall pace of the movie becomes disrupted near the last 20-30 minutes, as the overall flow of themes in Townes' life unfold less and less precisely and with as much organization as the beginning, but that's basically the only flaw to an otherwise brilliant documentary.

Not knowing much about Townes as a person, I can say that this movie helped me fall in love with his music and find new respect for the genre. I recommend it to anyone who loves this man, loves these kinds of quirky stories, loves country/folk, or... well, I recommend it to anyone!

Margaret Brown's story of Singer and Songwriter Townes Van Zandt is a wonderful tribute and heartfelt autobiography. In her own retro film style, I felt like I was part of the story of a struggling Musician trying to make it in a world that cared more about the record deal than the songs they produced. Van Zandt stuck to his guns and never sold out and recorded some of finest lyrics and haunting acoustical guitar work anyone has ever heard. The interviews really take you inside this guy's life - head and soul... and raw footage of Townes is aplenty in this film. One comment that will stay with myself forever was a interview with a Tour Manager whom stated: "He was moving up the Concert Tour Circuit... almost to a Motor Coach, YEA, he was ready to go! Van Zandt could care less about so-called fame, and just wrote and played what he felt. And this film sends the message to do whats in your heart, even if it kills ya at a young age. For any Artist, a 'Must See Documentary Film!

John Vizzusi, Behind the Indie Camera / Florida Film Monthly

If you aren't absolutely amazed by Townes' songwriting, finger picking, and singing, all you have to do is pick up a guitar to realize how difficult it is to do what he's doing. He's actually doing three or four things at once: Plucking a bass line with his thumb, a melody with his remaining fingers, and to top it all off, he sings absolutely hauntingly over this intricate accompaniment.

When Kristofferson called Townes a "songwriter's songwriter," this is made even truer by the fact that most of his biggest fans are musicians, because of his dedication and the perfection he achieves in his songs. It is truly songwriting rocket science. After I discovered Townes, I hardly ever strummed my guitar anymore, but rather try to keep it mostly fingerstyle.

Townes' greatness stemmed from what is the lifeblood of most all great musicians: persistence and dedication (and drugs), at least to his art, if not to the business side of things. Like he said; "You've got to lock yourself in your apartment, take the phone off the hook, and listen to Lightnin' Hopkins for two weeks."