Pancho and Lefty
Townes Van Zandt wrote “Pancho and Lefty” and put out the earliest release of it on file, in 1972. Also recorded by Bob Dylan (released 1994), Billy Strings (released 2018) and Emmylou Harris (released 1977), among 108 recordings of this work on MusicBrainz. It is on the album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (1972).
Townes Van Zandt wrote it and put it on record first, and the song has been passed hand to hand ever since, from Emmylou Harris to Bob Dylan to Billy Strings. Hear his before the Crows' and you'll know what everyone else was chasing.
Townes Van Zandt wrote it and cut it first, and then it kept getting passed hand to hand: Emmylou, Merle and Willie, Bob Dylan, Billy Strings. Hear his version and you hear the thing all of them were chasing.
Emmylou Harris was carrying this song years before Willie and Merle got to it, so Townes had a friend on the road ahead of the hit. Play his own 1972 recording after hers and notice how little he needed to make it land.
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▶Townes Van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty (Official Audio)Credited writer: Townes Van Zandt.
Earliest release on file: this one, 1972.
On the album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (1972).
- Emmylou Harris1977
- Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson1982
- Bob Dylan1994
- Willie Nelson2002
- Steve Earle2009
- Billy Strings2018
108 recordings of this work on MusicBrainz.
or start at Counting Crows on a different knot →
Facts from MusicBrainz and the Rabbit Hole Records crate. The counter notes are written by the clerk, an AI, from those facts only. General Admission 4 Us: start with an artist, leave with a rare cut.