Don Townsley, a tremendous musician and a truly kind and good human being, passed away earlier this week back in Texas. 

Don, I made sure I spelled your name right – and there's a bit of amusing history behind that comment.

I’d known, liked and admired Don for a few years before, in my early capacity as a professional moron, I’d gratefully accepted an assignment from the Texas music magazine BUDDY to review a single released by the tremendous Austin band Too Smooth.

By that point in the late 1970s, Too Smooth was actually on its last legs – which didn’t make the single any less glorious. Released on the Armadillo World Headquarters' short-lived house label, the record featured the last-ever lineup of Too Smooth: founding guitarist and sole original member Jeff Clark, guitarist Townsley, drummer Chris Skiles, and bassist Ron Ward.

Somehow, in my published review, in defiance of the natural laws of probability and chance – not to mention the fact-check foundational tenets of Journalism 101 – I managed to misspell not just Don’s name but the name of EVERY. GUY. IN. THE. BAND.

Four-for-four! 

To put that in perspective, some genius will solve the long-elusive Baum–Connes Conjecture before the next time some hapless reporter misspells the name of every subject in a single story.

To his credit – to the credit of all the Too Smoothers – Don and the rest of the band thought it was pretty funny. But that’s the sort of folks they are/were: immensely talented and criminally underappreciated – but also very generous and kind.

For example, Too Smooth more than once allowed my band at the time, Tropical Otter, to open shows for them. Those sets were simultaneously wonderful and intimidating opportunities. In all seriousness, Too Smooth – in any of its incarnations – was one of the best bands I’ve ever seen or heard. I’ve written about them numerous times, and over the years Clark and I became what I consider to be very good friends. Why they didn't become huge stars is a true conundrum. Sigh.

Before he joined Too Smooth, Don also played in the Dallas band Lightning – and if there was a Texas rock group in the 70s that rivaled Too Smooth for greatness, it was them. Think about how cool it is that Don was in both of those acts (along with a third most excellent band, Full Force), and what it says about his talent and personality. So, yes, as a player, singer and writer, Don was clearly top-notch.

Anyway, time sprinted on and I hadn’t heard from Don in a long time -- though I knew he still played and taught and had worked for years at Charley’s Guitar Shop in Dallas – which, to the uninitiated, is sorta the Cooperstown Hall of Fame of guitar shops.

This past April, via Facebook, Don and I reconnected and it was great fun. There were several exchanges over the following months – fond reminiscences and questions to see if one or the other remembered a particular anecdote or band or musician. Eerily, we both lamented the death, earlier this year, of original Lightning vocalist Larry Samford because he was a very good guy and, yes, it was too soon.

In happier context, Don and I sent online clips back and forth of rare performances by favored bands such as Gentle Giant, King Crimson, UK, and others of that ilk.

Don also turned me onto the work of a very new fine band called The Colurs – which includes Don’s son, Max Townsley. It was so cool to sense the pride and love Don had for Max and his music. Colurs signed to Warner Brothers recently, and you can do yourself a favor by checking them out.

Of course, DNA is DNA and, yes, Don was a remarkable songwriter as well as a player and singer. Here’s a link to one of my favorite of his songs from the Too Smooth years. It’s called “Don’t Stop Lovin’ Me” and I think you'll find it to be effortlessly tuneful. Like many in the Too Smooth catalog, it could easily have been a hit.

[naviga:iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176400071&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"][/naviga:iframe]

The last communication I received from Don was on October 9th, when he wrote to ask if I’d heard the new advance single from Pink Floyd called “Louder Than Words.” In typical fashion, he ended with a happy but succinct allusion to guitarist David Gilmour: “Great solo!”

Don was right; it is a great solo. On Monday, the whole new Floyd album was officially released. We can’t always pick and choose how certain artistic properties will or won't attach themselves to us, but I think I’ll always associate this Pink Floyd album with Don Townsley.

It’s called The Endless River. Perfect and almost spooky.

Sail on, Don. Endlessly.

(For those reading this in Texas, there will be an informal celebration of Don's life from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, at his favorite Dallas restaurant, the El Fenix on Northwest Highway at Hillcrest.)