published: 8 /
3 /
2021
Label:
New West Records
Format: CD
Thoughtful and emotive album from Steve Earle, in which he pays tribute to his son Justin Townes Earle who died of an accidental drugs overdose last year by covering a collection of Justin’s songs
Review
The latest album by Steve Earle ‘J.T.’ is an homage to his late son Justin Townes Erle, a singer-songwriter who died in August last year following an accidental drugs overdose. Digitally released on January 4, the date when Justin would have been 39, with all proceeds going to a Trust Fund for Justin’s daughter, the album is also available in CD and vinyl.
Recorded with the current line-up of the Dukes, the 20th studio album by Earle features ten songs written by his son Justin, with the final, emotive track ‘Last Words’ by Earle about the birth of his son and the phone call he had with him the night he died. Themes of heartbreak and family, love and loss pervade the collection, set in a confident, rootsy style, featuring fiddle player Eleanor Whitmore prominently throughout and ranging from traditional blue-grass in the opener ‘I Don’t Care’ to electric rock in ‘Maria’ and rockabilly in ‘Champagne Corolla.’
Highlights include the old-style country song ‘Ain’t Glad I’m Leaving’; the anguished ballad ‘Far Away In Another Town’, its main character hitting the road for a place where he can be “lonesome on my own”; and the poignant, country-rock ‘Harlem River Blues’, a song which won Song of the Year at the 2011 Americana Music Awards, following Justin Earle being recognized in the Emerging Artist of the Year category in 2009.
Making this album, Steve Earle said, “wasn’t cathartic as much as it was therapeutic… I made the record because I needed to…. It was the only way I knew to say goodbye.”
A thoughtful and accomplished tribute to a songwriter and musician who died far too soon.
Track Listing:-
1
I Don't Care
2
Ain't Glad I'm Leaving
3
Maria
4
Far Away In Another Town
5
They Killed John Henry
6
Turn Out My Lights
7
Lone Pine Hill
8
Champagne Corolla
9
The Saint of Lost Causes
10
Harlem River Blues
11
Last Words
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