Townes never needed any added instrumentation. He and his guitar are perfect. There is nothing like a producer who thinks more of himself than the artists he is producing. Now, with that out of my system, I have to say I love Townes and will download this "just because"...
This is the darkest record that Townes ever did. It is also one of the his finest collections. The balance of love songs like "Like a Summer Thursday" with the stuff like "Kathleen" and "St. John the Gambler" is amazing, and this record is one that still comes into the playlist regularly, 15 years after I first listened to it.
I can see Clint Eastwood now, riding slow up a mountain, lonely and on a mission. This music is so evocative of the frontier west tinged with Mexican influence. Its a clean, good recording, not over engineered or flourished with orchestrations - just the instruments needed to tell the story.
