Remembering John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter. Many of his songs, including "If I Needed You" and "To Live Is to Fly", are considered standards of their genre. While alive, Van Zandt had a small and devoted fanbase, but he never had a successful album or single and even had difficulty keeping his recordings in print. In 1983, six years after Emmylou Harris had first popularized it, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered his "Pancho and Lef

"Pancho and Lefty" 1983 was written by Townes Van Zandt and famously performed by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. The song tells the story of two Mexican outlaws, Pancho and Lefty, with implications of betrayal and regret. Van Zandt, who also appears in the music video as a Mexican federal, claimed the song came to him "out of the blue". | Kris Kristofferson Fans