Townes Van Zandt (1969)

Townes Van Zandt's self-titled third album gathers some of his most haunting songs in definitive versions, among them For the Sake of the Song, Waiting Around to Die and I'll Be Here in the Morning. It sits at the crossroads of traditional ballads and poetic existentialism, and the spare production lets his fingerpicking and weary voice carry every line like something whispered in a dark room. (Pancho and Lefty came later, on The Late Great Townes Van Zandt.)