"Dirty Old Town" and "Riding he Range" (Exile/EFA) have been in this poet's repertoire for a long time, but only shortly before his death he recorded them for a single (45 r.p.m). It is moving how Townes with a broken voice sings these songs, doesn't speak the words but makes them audible. Recorded on one track, these sparse recitatives with mandolin and fiddle are almost as moving as the immortal "Kathleen". The poet of hopelessness, at the end of his life disoriented and helpless, performs these songs like his own. "Same time, same place, next week", it's said in "Riding The Range" but there was no next week. Royann and Jim Calvin who accompanied Townes recordings in Austin said goodbye to their "best amigo ever" on the cover. Existentialism that chokes you up.
