My Amazon Reviews: David Broza "Night Songs: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt"

 Twilight With Townes
3 Out Of 5 Stars

I have been a fan of David Broza for quite some time, including seeing him perform. He's an Israeli folk singer with a husky, sensual voice who's a major star over sees and a cult following stateside. He's done albums in English, Spanish and Hebrew, and "Night Dawn" is his first English Language album in many years. It comes with its own peculiar back story. As it turns out, Broza was a close friend of the late Townes Van Zandt, whose best known songs include the classic "Pancho and Lefty." Prior to his death, Van Zandt had approached Broza about working on an album with Townes' lyrics and David's music, but Van Zandt passed before the project came to fruition. These were the last lyrics/poems Van Zandt had written.

Broza held on to the lyrics, which at one time were being considered for an all-star tribute to Townes where other luminaries would each take a poem and complete a song. That project sputtered and stalled and never came to be, and finally, in 2010, Broza approached Van Zandt's family/estate about completing the album he and Townes had started in 1994. "Night Dawn" is the result, and it's a pretty good effort. There are some nice fits, like "Soul to Soul" and "Night Dawn/Silver Dollar." Broza's guitar style as a flamenco man doesn't always match the sadness in Van Zandt's words, like the divorce of "Southern Cross" and or a downer like "The Deer" (with this couplet "hard times lead, worse times follow...").

For the most part, "Night Dawn" is a good match between kindred spirits. Broza's rich voice infuses the words with the kind of emotional weight of Townes' intent. Like Steve Earle's tribute of Van Zandt covers ("Townes"), Broza shows and obvious deep love for his friend and the music he was entrusted with. While the quality of the songs is a little uneven, the heart is in the right place.