The truly are only a few things more magnificent than a country rock tune being played at full tilt on an overcast day. Whether in the car or just your room, Townes Van Zandt seems to be the best sort of soundtrack for earnest times alone, or times when you’re with someone, but feel that the pair of you are the only folks on earth.

In contrast to Van Zandt’s live recordings, 1968’s For the Sake of Song includes more than a few supplemental instruments. To some, that might be detrimental to the singer’s overall gritty feel. But adding a bit of stately autoharp, or whatever’s at work in the background of “Many a Fine Lady,” adds more of a regal feeling than the song would have been able to pull off otherwise. Lyrically, the disc, even coming so early in Van Zandt’s career, is pretty much the template for everything afterwards. The aforementioned song’s simply a lament, the singer saying goodbye to another loved one. Of course, that trope’s at work in just about every country song every. In Van Zandt’s capable hands, though, it sounds like a novel, new approach.

Elsewhere on For the Sake of Song, “The Velvet Voices” adds a bit of a churchy feeling with all those swelled organ notes and some weird supplemental percussion. But it’s just the sound of Van Zandt figuring out the translation of simple compositions into a studio setting with a wealth of opportunities. Start with his live stuff, just return here.