by Josh Friedberg

Tourist venues say that Texas is “like a whole other country.” Never having traveled there, I find these two live double-CD sets, both recorded in the mid-1970s, as close as I get to a Texas experience. One is loud and electric – the other, quiet and acoustic. But both have enough good tunes and humor to highly recommend and to merit space in your collection.

Waylon Jennings, “Waylon Live: The Expanded Edition”

You may know Waylon Jennings for his theme song to the 1980s TV show “The Dukes of Hazzard.” But this set captures the peak of his badass country talent with a killer band, a couple years after leaving the Nashville mainstream country scene behind for his “Outlaw” sound and image.

Gratifyingly, this period of Jennings’ career resulted in commercial success, but more importantly, his music of this period rocks. The raucous music on this set arguably outdoes the studio versions of these songs, featured on then-recent albums like “Honky Tonk Heroes” and “This Time.”

Originally released as a single vinyl record in 1976, and later beefed up to include four times more songs recorded during those September 1974 nights, this edition was released in 2003, shortly after Jennings’ untimely death.

For once, the inclusion of more music is not an excuse to release repetitious versions of the same material. More covers of fellow outlaws Willie Nelson and Billy Joe Shaver, and traditional country fare by the likes of Jimmie Rodgers and Rex Griffin, join the ranks of the great performances on the original 11-track set.

The most famous track, also released on his next studio album, is “Bob Wills is Still the King,” a tribute to the master of so-called Western swing. But tracks that were first heard in later editions, like “You Can Have Her” and “The Taker,” also deserve to be heard.

Townes Van Zandt, “Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas”

The likes of Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris have recorded Townes Van Zandt’s songs, but anyone who knows him as the guy that wrote “Pancho and Lefty” (for Nelson and Merle Haggard) can find so much more to like here. On a live set like this, with Van Zandt singing and playing acoustic guitar without a band, the warmth of “If I Needed You” and “For the Sake of the Song,” the spookiness of “Kathleen” and the sadness in “Tecumseh Valley” and “Waiting ‘Round to Die,” all come through.

“Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas” was recorded in 1973 and released four years later. Van Zandt’s reflective lyrics and dexterous fingerpicking are a treat to hear, and while his voice is not the best, the quality of his songwriting is especially noteworthy.

The audience also gets treated to a few jokes and covers of pioneers in blues, rock and country. Unlike Jennings’ set, however, this was originally released as two vinyl records, fully formed and not needing additional tracks in the CD era. Still, this will make you want to hear more Van Zandt, who influenced everyone from Steve Earle to Norah Jones, and has lived on since his death in 1997.