First I would like to say "Hi" to everyone here as I'm new to this forum!
This demo recording of Townes Van Zandt's "Waitin' Around to Die", sung by Michael Johnson, was recorded back in the summer of 1968. It is one of, if not the very first cover version of this very song. By the time this version was recorded, Townes hasn't even released his first album yet.
Michael was by then a member of folk group The Mitchell Trio, and you can hear in the beginning of the song that John Denver - another member of the trio - asked Michael to sing "Catch Another Butterfly", but Michael chose to do "Waitin' Around to Die" instead. I believe it was Paul Prestopino backing Michael on the bass guitar in this recording.
Though Michael's rendition is very different from Townes' original, it's still my favorite cover version of this very song.
This is another sad song about death, from the same demo session back in the summer of 1968. Michael was singing Tom Paxton's song "Now That I've Taken My Life" with John Denver singing harmony.
This recording, however, sounds more like a practice to me, as they haven't even decided which key to play in by then..