T. Van Zandt; Country Singer, Songwriter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. —  Singer Townes Van Zandt, who wrote the country hits “If I Needed You” and “Pancho and Lefty” and gained a cult following for his blues-inspired recordings about life’s losers, has died. He was 52.

Van Zandt had returned to his home in nearby Smyrna to recuperate from hip surgery last week. He died Wednesday night of an apparent heart attack.

The Texas native began releasing albums in 1968, becoming one of a hard-living group of folk troubadours in that state that included Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker and Mickey Newberry.

Although he was the son of a prominent oil family, his songs often told stories of prostitutes, bums, gamblers and other losers. But he said he wasn’t always so somber as the desperate people who lived in his lyrics.

Don Williams and Emmylou Harris had a hit with “If I Needed You,” which reached No. 3 on the country charts in 1982, and Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard teamed up the following year on a version of “Pancho and Lefty” that reached No. 1.

Van Zandt never had a hit as a singer, but released a series of albums on independent record labels such as Tomato, Poppy and Sugar Hill. His most recent was “No Deeper Blue” in 1994.