High, Low and In Between

High, Low and In Between is Townes Van Zandt's fifth studio album, recorded in April 1971 at Larrabee Sound Studios in Los Angeles and released in December 1971 on the Poppy label^[1]. Producer Kevin Eggers brought in session players including guitarist Larry Carlton and organist Don Randi, giving the record a fuller folk-rock arrangement of pedal steel, piano, and organ, a notable departure from the sparse, largely acoustic sound of Van Zandt's earlier albums^[1].

Thematically, the record juxtaposes songs about sin and worldly indulgence against gospel-inflected pieces about salvation, a tension embodied most strangely in "Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold," a card-game allegory so cryptic that Van Zandt himself professed not to fully understand it^[1]. Critical reaction at the time was divided: one contemporary review favorably likened Van Zandt's flowing, blues-soaked phrasing to early Bob Dylan and Hank Williams, while biographer John Kruth later described the album's polished arrangements as hackneyed and unsatisfying next to Van Zandt's starker work^[1]. Retrospective assessment has been considerably warmer, with Pitchfork rating the album 8.8 out of 10 on reissue^[1].

The album's centerpiece is "To Live's to Fly," a song Van Zandt reportedly named as his favorite among his own compositions when pressed to choose, even though he considered picking a single favorite an impossible task^[1]. It arrived during one of the most fertile stretches of his career, the years between 1968 and 1973 that also produced "Pancho and Lefty" and "If I Needed You" on neighboring records, songs that would eventually secure his reputation as a songwriter's songwriter across American and European folk and country circles^[2].