With multiple stints in rehab and bust-ups with record labels it has too often seemed that Justin Townes Earle (JTE) is following a little too closely in his rebellious father's footsteps.
Now married and sober JTE brings a more mature perspective to the ten songs on his fifth full length album. “One day I just realised it’s not cool to die young, and it’s even less cool to die after 30”, he says.
The cover photo of 13-year-old musician Sammy Brue holding hands with a girl his own age is supposed to represent a younger Justin who was raised by a single mother after Steve Earle left when he was two years old.
The album was recorded live with his four-piece touring band with minimal rehearsal time, no overdubs, no other singers and no additional players. The aim was to keep ideas fresh and to show he's now a man more inclined to rationality than rambling.
Centro-Matic's Matt Pence and Mark Hedman provide solid drums and bass backing while Paul Niehaus shows his class on pedal steel as he has previously with Lambchop and Calexico. The album was co-produced by longtime engineer Adam Bednarik.
An even more stripped back sound can be heard on Picture In A Drawer and It's Cold In This House which feature only JTE on voice and guitar backed by Niehaus. The first of these songs displays Earle's gallows humour "I'm not drownin', just seeing how long I can stay down".
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Two of the standout tracks are White Gardenias, a tribute to Billie Holiday who wore these flowers in her hair, and the semi-confessional Time Shows Fools in which JTE sings of "looking for something I should learn to forget".
The band's take on Americana shows the diversity of styles that make up this genre. There's some slow blues on Worried Bout The Weather, rockabilly on My Baby Drives and the title track takes the listener into country soul territory.
The closing track, Burning Pictures, is closer to a classic Stones rocker with lyrics which emphasise Earle's new leaf philosophy "hope only hurts when you don't believe, sometimes we need to know the difference between what we want and what we need".
This fine album deals with JTE's troubled past yet never appears to be dominated by bitterness or anger. It's the sound of an artist seeking to set aside past struggles to focus on a newfound stability while all the time tempered by the realisation that the line between these two states is a fine one.
Justin Townes Earle's website
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