A collection of singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt’s earliest recordings will be released this spring. In the Beginning will feature 10 previously unreleased songs that were recorded as demos in 1966. The collection of solo and band recordings predates the release of his debut album, For the Sake of the Song. Ex-wife Jeanene Van Zandt says, “Townes told me about these songs many times and I had lyrics on them, but he insisted he had recorded them when he first came to Nashville. Townes' first publisher, Jack Clement, rang me about 10 years ago when he came upon a cache of Townes material, but neither of us thought there was anything else in the vaults. Then I got a call from our mutual friend, photographer C.J. Flanagan, who said Jack had found these tapes when he was converting the catalog to digital." Van Zandt died in 1997. In the Beginning will be released by Compadre Records on April 22. 01/28/03