“Colorado Girl” was written by Townes Van Zandt, the Texas songwriter admired for his spare, haunting lyrics. He recorded it in the late 1960s, drawing on his time spent in Colorado.
The song is a quiet ballad of longing. The singer is far from a woman he loves — his Colorado girl — and the lyric holds the ache of distance and the wish to make his way back to her.
Van Zandt’s songs have been widely embraced by bluegrass and folk performers.