Emmylou Harris has remembered Townes Van Zandt as a major influence on her music and as a key figure in establishing the Americana genre. She said seeing him perform in Greenwich Village in 1968 showed her an approach to songwriting unlike anything she had previously encountered, and described his impact on her as profound.

Van Zandt wrote “Pancho and Lefty”, which Harris recorded for her 1976 album *Luxury Liner*, helping make it one of her defining songs. The album reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and No. 21 on the Billboard 200; Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard later recorded a successful duet version, with Van Zandt appearing in its music video. Harris argued that artists such as Van Zandt and Guy Clark created the creative space that became known as Americana.