My Years with Townes Van Zandt: Music, Genius, and Rage

“Other people locked themselves away and hid from their demons. Townes flung open his door and said, 'Come on in.'” So writes Harold Eggers, Townes Van Zandt's longtime road manager and producer, in My Years with Townes Van Zandt: Music, Genius, and Rage – a gripping memoir revealing the inner core of an enigmatic troubadour, whose deeply poetic music was a source of inspiration and healing for millions but was for himself a torment struggling for dominance among myriad personal demons.

Townes Van Zandt often stated that his main musical mission was to “write the perfect song that would save someone's life.” However, his life was a work in progress he was constantly struggling to shape and comprehend. Eggers says of his close friend and business partner that “like the master song craftsman he was, he was never truly satisfied with the final product but always kept giving it one more shot, one extra tweak, one last effort.”

A vivid, firsthand account exploring the source of the singer's prodigious talent, widespread influence, and relentless path toward self-destruction, My Years with Townes Van Zandt presents the truth of that all-consuming artistic journey told by a close friend watching it unfold.

Harold F. Eggers, Jr. (Austin, TX) is a music industry executive of 40 years' experience, who worked with Townes Van Zandt as road manager, business partner, and co-record producer, helping bring the songwriter's unforgettable music to live audiences across Europe and North America over a span of two decades.

L. E. McCullough is a native of Speedway, Indiana, and has worked as a journalist, musician, arts administrator, and script and stage writer with 52 books published in fiction, nonfiction, and drama. He is the author of hundreds of articles on music and the music industry. Dr. McCullough holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh.