Before his '97 death, the fabled Texas-born bard Townes Van Zandt made private solo recordings of some of his best songs, which appear here with posthumously recorded backup. Though the dead-star-fronts-living-band concept usually stiffs, it works on A Far Cry From Dead, giving fans inspired new versions of classics (''Pancho and Lefty,'' ''Dollar Bill Blues''), plus a previously unreleased gem, the terrifying ''Sanitarium Blues.'' The best introduction yet to this master craftsman's dour magic. A
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