Our Mother the Mountain

Milton Glaser designed one of the most striking album covers of 1969 with Our Mother the Mountain. Working on Townes Van Zandt's second studio album for Poppy Records, Glaser paired his bold graphic vision with Allen Vogel's arresting photograph of the enigmatic songwriter.

Glaser explained his approach to author John Kruth in 2007: "The album cover...was about provoking people's interest. To get them to ask, 'What the hell is that?'" Either they understood it immediately or they didn't—but if they were compelled by the mysterious image, they might discover Van Zandt's name had meaning.

Vogel's photograph captured Van Zandt with what biographer John Kruth described as black eyes that "glared so hard you might've wondered if he shattered the photographer's lens." The Charly Records reissue liner notes observed that Vogel's camera "created image sums up the contents of this album: eleven original songs of survival and sorrow."

Glaser employed the typeface Airport Black (Baltotype, c.1943) for the album title, though it's often mistaken for the later Futura Extra Bold. The heavy geometric sans serif became integral to the cover's visual impact. For Poppy Records' logo, Glaser used his own typeface Baby Teeth.

The original 1969 pressing featured front laminated and rear matte finishes. When Fat Possum reissued the album in 2007, they maintained Glaser's original Airport Black typography for vinyl releases but substituted Futura Extra Bold for CD versions since no digital version of Airport Black existed.

Fat Possum has described the cover as "some of the most iconic cover art in album history." The design has endured through multiple reissues, including special colored vinyl editions celebrating the album's 50th anniversary in 2019.