John Townes Van Zandt was an American folk/country singer and song-writer. He was not a very big artist during his lifetime, he only had a small fan base - people who used to relate to his singing and written songs. He started with singing in the bars and night clubs in Houston and later when his talent was recognized he started coming out with albums. But his musical career was only sporadic as his heroin and alcohol addiction and his random check-ins and check-outs from the rehabilitation centers could not help him much in keeping his career steady. In the late 1980s, Emmylou Harris first popularized Zandt’s work, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered his song ‘Pancho and Lefty’, which peaked at number one on the Billboard country music charts. This made him enormously famous at one point in his life, yet he was only interested in planting morning glories, listening to Paul Harvey's radio show, and watching the sitcom ‘Happy Days’ in a house that had no heating, plumbing or telephone in Nashville. Zandt died a horrific death due to his drug and alcohol addiction at the age of 52.