The Lemonheads - Townesville - New CD
Format: New CD Label: Fire Records Cat. No. FIRECD835
Barcode: 0809236005649
Released: 22/01/2027
The Lemonheads release their full-length studio album, Townesville - a collection dedicated entirely to the songs of legendary Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Recorded in Nashville, the record captures a mature Evan Dando at his most raw and honest, an artist who, much like Van Zandt himself, has lived every mile of his songs, carrying the restless spirit of a true American troubadour.
Townesville is anchored by a sense of family, warm connection, and remarkable synchronicity. Far from a standard homage, the album weaves an intimate circle of guest appearances across its track list. Katie Belle Van Zandt, Townes' daughter, contributes percussive spoons, bringing direct ancestral lineage straight into the recordings. Brazilian music icon Almir Sater brings the resonant, rustic warmth of central Brazil with his signature viola caipira work. Dando shares a moving duet with his stepdaughter, Beatriz Sater, marking one of the album's most poignant vocal highlights. Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) lends his distinct vocal presence to the iconic ballad "Pancho and Lefty." Emerging Nashville band Paperview provides youthful energy and harmony to the project's layered soundscapes.
At its core, Townesville highlights the rare kinship between Evan Dando and Townes Van Zandt. Both artists possess an innate ability to turn vulnerability into song, drifting through life with a guitar and an unwavering commitment to musical truth. Stripped of pretence and captured with raw authenticity, Dando’s voice shines with the clarity of a songwriter who has weathered the storm and emerged with his craft intact.
Car Button Cloth is an extraordinary affair of musical and emotional extremes, a soundscape spanning “the most beautiful piano-led mourning in the history of the broken heart” that switches into perky jangle-pop for fleeting moments and contains the ultimate self-deprecating classic ‘The Outdoor Type’, penned by Smudge cohort Tom Morgan, as well as a cover of the bluegrass standard ‘Knoxville Girl’ and ‘If I Could Talk I’d Tell You’ co-written with The Vaselines’ Eugene Kelly. All bases are covered.