Searching for Townes Van Zandt's shack in Fernvale, Tennessee

Today songwriter & fellow roots-music enthusiast Bill Tate & I drove out to Franklin (Tenn.), site of a bloody Civil War battle on Nov. 30, 1864, an inspiration for Townes Van Zandt's song "Flyin' Shoes." We were searching for the dilapidated shack in Fernvale where Townes lived for a while in the 1980s, subsisting mostly on wild critters & booze. We did our detective work armed only with scant clues gleaned from John Kruth's recent biography of Townes, "To Live's to Fly." We never did find that damn shack, but we sure met some nice country folks along the way.

We met a kind lady (originally from Florida) at the Visitor Information Center, located within spittin' distance of the obligatory Civil War soldier atop an obelisk on the town square. She made several calls on our behalf, but couldn't offer any specific location advice. Following a tip from a guy at Puckett's Grocery, a fine restaurant & music venue on Fourth Street in gentrified Franklin, we headed west on Hwy. 96 toward Fairview, where Townes used to buy liquor when he wasn't broke or tied to a tree to dry out. After turning onto Old Harding Road, we entered a weird tree-blessed valley where lamas, cows & goats graze the pastures, where farms have evocative names like Glimpse of Glory & Canandaguia.

At a fork in the road we stopped at a tiny old Shell gas station converted into a home. Steve Turner answered the door, backed up by his friendly terrier mutt Peanut. Steve couldn't direct us to the shack, but he said that he'd played drums on a record that Emmylou Harris did using a tape of Townes singing. (She also once had a hit covering Townes' song "If I Needed You," a duet with Don Williams.) We followed another asphalt road across the creek and tried our luck at a feed store on Hwy. 100. While his son chased a small black cat, a good ole boy with a thick Tennessee accent referred us to Steve Skelton, supposedly a former neighbor of Townes. But that Steve was also unable to provide directions; I'm not sure he even knew who Townes Van Zandt was. The feed-store gent enthused about Steve Earle, who once lived out there for a spell & was inspired by the hilly terrain to write his great song "Copperhead Road."

At least Bill & I had a pleasant drive in the country on a grey Saturday afternoon. En route back to Nashville, we stopped for a tasty barbecue dinner & a pint of Yazoo's Beer Named Sue stout at Puckett's. I just wish I had had room for the blueberry cobbler that our waiter raved about. Check out Townes Van Zandt's classic "Live at the Old Quarter" album or Willie & Waylon's cover of his desperado tune "Pancho and Lefty." Townes was an artist who wrote enduring songs because he had too much poetry to keep it all inside him, a rare gift for musical self-expression.