The album slouches towards Bethlehem, and a single should be out in the next month or so. It's still late summer don't fight me. Circumstances beyond his control forced the excellent Alex Gibson, who is mixing the album, to move out of state, causing some understandable but depressing delays. I am pleased to announce here that “Blood On My Sandals” has been sent off to mixing and will be the first single out. A crowd favorite, we are excited to share with everyone what Alex has wrung out of it. More on the song will come later. In the interim, we are honing some new songs and refreshing ourselves on some others.
One of the songs we played recently is the impeccable “Pancho and Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt. We love playing this song, and it was one of the first songs Gage and Carson played together. As a songwriter, I always want to understand what great songs do so that I can *repurpose* the parts that make the song great and use them to make mine better. “Pancho and Lefty” is a great example of this because of the tension carried in the melody.
A good melody must walk a fine line: it should be powerful yet not so powerful that it feels overwrought, intricate enough to keep interest but not so entangled that it becomes too complex to sing, and so simple that it can be easily repeated but not so inane that it becomes boring. One of the ways that “Pancho and Lefty” does this is by relying on the fifth of each chord played beneath it. For example, when Van Zandt plays a D flat major, the melody focusses on an A flat. He does this throughout the melody except for the end of each verse and chorus. Now, the fifth of the chord, while being a part of the chord, is often the least impactful chord tone. In many chords, and especially common chords like major or minor, the fifth is not necessary to determine the tonality of the chord and can be left out. By basing a melody off so many consecutive fifths, each line lacks a strong resolution to a more powerful chord tone like the third or root. It hovers around the fifth of each chord until the final line of the chorus and verse when Van Zandt ends the melody on the root. After floating over each chord change, the melody at last lands on a powerful note, giving a sense of finality. Van Zandt also holds out the chord beneath to emphasize the finish. And yet, the minor beneath flows into the major to start the next phrase.
There is so much more in this song that deserves analysis be it the chords, the structure of the song, or the magnificent lyrics, and I encourage everyone to listen to it to hear a great, simple song. The rest of the album this version is off, Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas, is an excellent album and a great place to start with Townes Van Zandt. Turning back to the ugly business, the album will come whether we want it to or not, and check our Insta for any new updates.
Tyler