David Broza On Mountain Stage

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David Broza set unpublished poetry by Townes Van Zandt to music. Brian Blauser hide caption

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Brian Blauser

David Broza set unpublished poetry by Townes Van Zandt to music.

Brian Blauser

Israeli born singer, songwriter and guitarist David Broza has long specialized in setting poetry to music. Whether it's verse from his homeland of Israel, his new home in Spain or from 17 years spent living in the United States, Broza turns poetry into song marked by his knack for melody and virtuosic guitar technique.

Broza shared this love of poetry-made-music with legendary Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt. The two met at a songwriter in-the-round event in Houston in 1994 and they shared an intimate rapport, but Van Zandt passed away before the two spoke again.

It came as a shock to Broza when he found out that Van Zandt left unpublished poetry specifically for him. Eight years after Townes' death in 1997, Broza received the poems and molded his music around Van Zandt's words. He released the newly crafted songs as Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt. Broza performs several of the songs from Night Dawn in his second Mountain Stage appearance.

This Mountain Stage performance was originally published on July 7, 2010.