Michael Weston King, along with Lou Dalgeish, is one half of My Darling Clementine. While working on their latest album in spring 2024 – a personal tragedy changed everything…
Michael and Lou lost their six-year-old granddaughter, Bebe, in the Southport attacks in Jul that year, and, as much as they tried to carry on and make a My Darling Clementine album, with the weight of so much sadness and grief bearing down on them, it just didn’t seem the right thing to do.
The events not only changed the music they were making and the songs they were writing, it also altered their outlook on life. Recognising that everyone’s grief is individual – even that of a husband and wife – Michael and Lou needed to channel their suffering via their own individual creativity and in their own way, rather than in collaboration, so they worked on two solo albums.
Lou’s record will be out later this year, while Michael’s Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore is released on April 4, 2026 – Bebe’s birthday.
Michael joins us for a deep dive into one of his songwriting heroes and explains why he loves Townes Van Zandt.
CHARMING, GENTLE, FUNNY
This article really could have been about so many artists, and not just musicians. Of the musicians, it could have been; Phil Ochs, Tim Hardin, Karen Dalton, Kate Wolf, George Jones, Mike Nesmith, Scott Walker, Joe Henry, the list really does go on but, in the end, I went with Townes, mostly because I was fortunate to know him, and to have worked with him, and, most importantly as he became a friend.
So, why do I love Townes Van Zandt? Well, for the four years I knew him, he was a charming human being, a gentle and funny man, not without his demons but he was always extremely gracious to me and everyone we met along the way. He was also one of the greatest ever songwriters yet at the same didn’t take himself too seriously
I remember exactly where I was when i first heard Townes – in a living room in Perth, Scotland, in a house owned by a local record shop owner, (John Thompson of Goldrush Records), who owned a bootleg copy of Heartworn Highways James Szalapski’s acclaimed documentary about the country outlaw movement of the late 70’s. The film highlighted the then largely unknown talents of Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Steve Young, the great Larry Jon Wilson, even a fledgling Steve Earle, and many more, including, of course, Townes Van Zandt. This was in the early 90’s, long before it got an official release and long before Loose Records released the sound track.
A DAMASCUS MOMENT
In a film of so many highlights, Townes’ performing Waiting Round To Die, while his elderly neighbour Uncle Seymour Washingon watches on and is in turn moved to tears, was something of a road to Damascus moment for me. It is an incredibly powerful moment and it struck me that here was someone very special. Especially only a little earlier in the film he had been pretending to be eaten by a giant rabbit!
As I loved certain songs, mainly those I’d seen in the film, I didn’t really dig fully into the all albums until I started touring with him in 1994. I was getting to see him play every night, and certain songs became firm favourites, so I went back to find the original recordings, and the albums from which they came. Some of the songs included Tecumseh Valley, Lungs, Rake, Tower Song, Highway Kind and You Are Not Needed Now
Funny, we played in Perth on that first tour, and John, that same record shop owner gifted me a whole bunch of Townes albums to help with my on going education, which I had Townes sign, every one.
Consequently he became a huge influence on my writing. A quick look back through my song catalogue shows clearly where I was channeling Townes. Songs of mine such as Lay Me Down from the 1999 album God Shaped Hole, The Last Hurrah from A New Kind Of Loneliness in 2006, but still now, Me & Frank from my 2022 album The Struggle was an attempt at a Townes story teen song, and even the title track from my new album, Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore.
A RICH AND DEEP CANON OF WORK
A good friend who has heard it, and is also a huge Townes devotee drew an immediate comparison between it and Townes remarkable tale of homelessness, Marie (not that for one minute I am saying it is any near as good)
His was such a rich and deep canon of work it is hard to select a favourite song or lyrics, but I think the ones that struck me most were from his last official studio album, No Deeper Blue, the album he had out when we toured together. We didn’t know, but it was to become his last “proper” album (there have been many, too many, live albums, and compilations released since) but No Deeper Blue showed he was still writing songs of the highest quality even towards the end of his life. A Song For, the aforementioned Marie, Lovers Lullaby, Blazes Blues, for me, they are up there with his very best earlier songs.
A SONG FOR
The song A Song For, which Townes told me was originally entitled A Song For Shane MacGowan, really resonated with me, and still does, especially as I have got older, yet am still touring, dragging my sorry ass and guitar around the world. Clearly there were many times he wondered why he was doing just that too, what was it all for, and why had he chosen this particular path?…
“London to Dublin, Australia to Perth
I gazed at your skies, I tasted your earth
Sung out my heart for what it was worth
Never again shall I ramble.”
And in the same song, he mediated, as he often did, on his death;
“My sky’s getting far, the ground’s getting close
My self going crazy, the way that it does
I’ll lie on my pillow and sleep if I must
Too late to wish I’d been stronger
Too late to wish I’d been stronger.”
LATTER DAYS
As mentioned, I got to see Townes many times in concert, most of the time we were on the same bill, so l was lucky in many respects but unlucky in others. By the mid 90’s he was very much the worse for wear and his abilities, especially his guitar playing was on the decline. Still, I watched him from the wings, or the front row, and even if not at his best, there were moments, a song here or there, where it clicked, and a flicker of his original brilliance became evident.
The very first time I saw him was at The Union Chapel in London. He had been coming to the UK for many years but alway playing small places to a loyal but small crowd. This time (1994) he was booked into a much bigger venue due to the fact The Tindertsicks had covered his song Kathleen and taken it to no. 1 in the Inde charts (remember those!!) Consequently there was a great curiosity amongst a younger audience to see him. Instead of usual 150, there were over 800 there. he was stunned.
Years later I was asked to write the liner notes to the live album – Townes Van Zandt Live At The Union Chapel. My memory of the show is of being in utter awe of the man, and his songs, his playing, his charisma, but when i listened back to the recording almost 10 years later it was all too clear I was caught up in the moment. For those who want to hear Townes live at his peak there is only one live album to get, Live At The Old Quarter, arguably his best ever record.
THE LAST EVER SHOW
I was also there at the last ever show, once again opening for him, this time back in the more humble but arguably more fitting surroundings of The Borderline off Charing Cross Road. It was full though, and again, a difficult night for artist and audience but still, the love in the room for Townes was palpable. He was held in such affection regardless of how well he performed. In fact it transpired he had a broken hip, and it had been that way for over two weeks while on tour. Remarkable that he even got onstage let only played.
When we we’re together we mostly talked music, poetry, he had great tales of other artists, and songwriters, we very rarely talked about the music business. But he did give me one piece of advice. He’d say “Stick around Michael, just stick around.”
I am now in my early 60’s so I have out-lived Townes by a good few years. He died remarkably just aged 52. In the end, I’ve stuck around longer than he did. And plan to do so a while longer yet.
For further reading about Townes his life and his songs, check out I’ll Be Here In The Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt by Brian T. Atkinson, and My Years with Townes Van Zandt: Music, Genius and Rage by Harold F. Eggers with feature contributions from MWK
Our thanks to Michael for such a detailed insight.
Here’s La Bamba In The Rain – set in the English seaside town of Southport, where Michael grew up, the song addresses the current trend of flag waving across the UK, and the call by those on the right for the ethnicity and immigration status of perpetrators of attacks to be made public
You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.
Michael Weston King: Website