Flyin' Shoes [Fat Possum]

Personnel: Townes Van Zandt (vocals, acoustic guitar); Phillip Donnelly, Billy Earl McLelland, Chips Moman (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Jimmy Day (steel guitar); Gary Scruggs (harmonica); Spooner Oldham (piano); Bobby Emmons (keyboards); Tommy Cogbill (bass); Eddy Anderson (drums, percussion); Toni Wine (background vocals).
Recorded at American Studios, Nashville, Tennessee. Includes liner notes by Tom Terrell.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
After a five-year layoff, Van Zandt returned to the studio for one of his most solid, concise albums. Unlike the compressed singer-in-a-studio sound of his early recordings, FLYIN' SHOES features sympathetic, organic backing from greats like Chips Moman, Jimmy Day Spooner Oldham. This helps Townes' subtly poetic tunes to come across. "When She Don't Need Me" and "No Place to Fall" are elegant love songs that depart form the country-folk style in the manner of DELTA MOMMA BLUES' "You Are Not Needed Now." "Snake Song," "Dollar Bill Blues" and "Rex's Blues" are classic Townes; dark, incisive imagery and simple-but-effective folk-tinged melodies. The title tune is a beautiful ballad that casts a hopeful eye toward spiritual redemption.