High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "Pancho and Lefty" is a song written by country singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Van Zandt first recorded it for his 1972 album, The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. Emmylou Harris then covered the song for her 1977 album, Luxury Liner and the song became a number one country hit in 1983 when Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson adopted it as the title track of their duet album Pancho Lefty.