I am in the midst of watching Be Here to Love Me for the fourth time since Sunday. This movie, this music, this man have engulfed me, part or whole in a big way. First time director Margaret Brown has crafted the best movie I have seen since The Ballad of Jack & Rose with a plethora of old footage, cool new shots of Texas roadsides, and hundreds of songs worthy of being called "perfect." Among Townes' more popular songs are "If I Needed You" and "Pancho and Lefty."

His songs tell the stories life handed him. They aren't necessarily big, they usually aren't beautiful, and they definitely aren't popular, but man, they become more than the sum of their parts - sorry to use a cliche.

What has stung me is his notion that in order to succeed he needed to abandon everyone and everything in his life - wives, kids, friends, jobs, homes, everything. But what can you expect from a man whose first serious song was "Waiting Around to Die." I'm passing a new milestone on my life's road, and with this one, I'm at a similar crossroad. I could very easily blow everything off, forget about everybody else and just take off and do it for myself, but I think I'm choosing to do it completely differently.

I'm going to pursue this artist's life, I'll be poor, down and out, malnourished, unkempt, as long as it means I get to do what I want. Wish me luck. Check out this movie. Check out "Marie," "Tecumseh Valley," and "Dead Flowers" a cover of The Rolling Stones' song made famous in The Big Lebowski.

Oh, and Margaret Brown's interview on WFMU is worth a listen if you have oodles of time or desire.