**********************
Sorrow and solitude
These are the precious things
And the only words
That are worth rememberin’
—Townes Van Zandt, Nothin’
*********************
A kind of gray and glum Sunday morning, wet and cool. It has the feel of the season turning, of the green of the leaves to be soon fleeing. The deer outside my window are taking on their new dark winter coats, the beautiful rich reddish coats of summer gone leaving them to look like they have rolled in coal dust, grimy and gray.
But they carry it well.
Myself, I feel as gray and glum and grimy as the scene and I fear I don’t carry it as well as my dear deer.
But that’s okay.
These gray days aren’t pleasant but there is something of value in them. They make you feel something and that is an important thing. It sometimes feels like we live without feeling the moment. And even if the moment isn’t a glorious moment of elation, to feel anything– even sorrow and solitude– at any given time may be the the only gift we have in the precious time we spend in this world.
Like Townes says in the lyrics at the top. Or maybe Warren Zevon said it correctly in Ain’t That Pretty At All:
Going to hurl myself against the wall
‘Cause I’d rather feel bad than feel nothing at all
On that note, let’s get to this Sunday morning music which is, of course, the song Nothin’ from the late great singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt. His voice is a bit of an acquired taste but on songs like this, its flat simplicity and plaintive tone are absolute perfection. One of my favorites from many that he wrote. I have also included a bit of a different version from the Grammy winning collaboration of Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. Plant’s falsetto set against the heavy crunch of Krauss’ electrified fiddle make it a powerful version.
Have a good Sunday.
PS: The painting at the top Exiles: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is a reminder that I will be giving an Art Talk this coming Thursday, September 12 beginning at 6 PM, at the Patterson Library Octagon Library in support of my Icons & Exiles exhibit that hangs there until September 20.
Redtree Times 
For better or for worse, I never acquired the taste for Van Zandt, either his voice or many of his lyrics. Still, it’s good to bump up against him from time to time, just to remember why he’s not in any of my playlists — well, except for Willie’s version of “Pancho and Lefty,” and “Heavenly Houseboat Blues,” which really sounds good when it’s sung by a bunch of slightly inebriated cruisers in the islands.