I had downloaded this song a few days ago and hadn’t had the chance to listen to it yet, but I am glad I finally did! It is a cover of country folk songwriter John Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Don't You Take It Too Bad’ by Jason Lytle – of Grandaddy’s fame – and Bird Smell – actually Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses’ fame.
You have to know that Jason Lytle is currently on tour with Band of Horses, and this is what the Grandaddy frontman himself had to say about the genesis of the song:
‘Ben of Horses Bridwell sent me this little “vocal, drum, guitar demo” that he recorded the night before in his hotel in Milan Italy and asked me if I wanna “add some whatever ” to it. I proceeded to slather sonic goo and build and mix upon it until I suspected the ghost of Townes Van Zandt was starting to get annoyed… It’s a beautiful song chosen and sung by Ben and I had a great time working on it.’
… and this is how the song ‘was started in an Italian hotel room and finished in the wild of Montana by Mr. Lytle’.
It is a beautiful song indeed, such a heartbreaking sadness slowly runs through it that you want to cry and smile at the same time,… ‘Don't you take it too bad/If you're feelin' unlovin'/If you're feelin unfeelin'/If you're feelin' alone’. The song is revisited with a lush and heavy-heart orchestration and honestly I don’t think Townes Van Zandt’s ghost has anything to complain about. ‘Don’t You Take it Too Bad’ comes from 1969 Townes Van Zandt’s third and self-titled album, and this will tempt anyone to plunge in his catalogue again.
Listen to, even download this excellent cover below, and check out the dates for Band of Horses and Jason Lytle end-of-the-year mini tour:
December
1 – Madison, Wis. @ Barrymore Theater
3 – Ann Arbor, Mich. @ The Michigan Theater
5 – Toronto, Ont. @ Massey Hall
6 – Montreal, QC. @ Metropolis
8 – Portland, Maine @ State Theater
9 – Boston, Mass. @ House of Blues
11 – New York, N.Y. @ Hammerstein Ballroom
14 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Electric Factory
15 – Richmond, Va. @ The National