On Townes Van Zandt’s 1971 album Delta Momma Blues the Delta and Blues are put to literal use on Brand New Companion. Slow, rambling, full of heartbreak and life mistakes, the repetitive lyrics, mournful mouth harp and ambling swing are delta blues at their most simple and traditional.

The blues get a little more on the rock side with Where I Lead Me and its the perfect kind of energy injection for this late stage in the albums run time as Van Zandt ramps up for the run home. A run home that ends with Nothin, the kind of song that sounds like it could be sung by striking workers outside a Kentucky coal mine.

Townes Van Zandt wrote amazing songs and wrote even better lyrics. He was a great musician and singer but theres something more elemental than those skills that makes Delta Momma Blues so effect