A poetic verse from an extraordinary young talent, Justin Townes Earle, the 26 year old son of musician Steve Earle. He is not, however, one to be happy riding on his dad’s name just to make a decent living. Justin is blazing his own path, and bringing the down-home traditional country sound along with him. Catching Justin perform one of his live acoustic shows, along with close friend Cory Younts providing harmony or playing a variety of string instruments, will immediately catapult you back in time, to the days of Woody Guthrie or Hank Williams, Sr. playing the small honky-tonks during their own heydays. Few artists today perform with the passion and creativity that he can. Justin’s debut release for Bloodshot Records titled The Good Life is being released March 25th. The ten songs that appear on the CD, weave intricately together to produce what is sure to be one of the best releases this year.

The CD has been in the works for quite some time. While touring and promoting his self- released CD entitled Yuma, Justin had an encouraging discussion with Rob Miller, the owner of Bloodshot Records. “I was touring in Chicago with Steve Poulton, who is my co-producer and hopefully always will be, and we needed a place to stay. We found a friend, who ended up being a friend of Rob Miller. Rob came to see me the next night, and we had a nice talk about what I had planned for an upcoming CD. It took a while to work out all the contract details, but when they were complete the CD was already in the works. In fact, there are two songs we had already recorded previously on our own. ‘Ain’t Glad I’m Leaving’ was recorded when I was 18 by producer Ray Kennedy and my father. The last song ‘Far Away In Another Town’ was recorded a couple of years ago for a semi-rock record I had in mind. I just liked the song, and wanted it included here.”

Justin had initial conversations with Lost Highway Records a few years ago, but that never panned out. It was a true blessing, which allowed him the freedom to record what he wanted, surrounded by his own people. “Bloodshot doesn’t try to control anything. They cater to artists who are going to do things there own way, and they allow them the freedom to do that. It has been great thus far.”

The CD is produced by legendary R.S. Field, who joined the project at the last minute. Justin contacted R.S. and told him, “We can’t pay you what you are supposed to get paid. We can’t afford anything but a Greyhound bus ticket. Would you like to come help us make this record, and he said sure. I think R.S. enjoyed it. He took a huge cut in pay to do it, but he helped us quite a bit.”

R.S. is responsible for some of the most memorable albums of the recent past, including Billy Joe Shaver’s Tramp On Your Street.  He welcomed the opportunity to work with Earle. “Justin sent me his EP and some new demos. I really liked it and thought that his direction had a very relaxed fit and approach. He is his father’s son in that he can really write songs and merge styles in an interesting way. I was surprised, although I don’t know why, that Justin could blend old-time country, jug band, and folk together so well. Along with Steve Poulton, Richard McLaurin, and Adam Bednarik, we completed it in only seven days. It just all flowed together seamlessly.”

Justin’s unique blend in styles is intentional. “I made the record this way on purpose. I did not want to only make an old time string, country, or folk album. I wanted a variety of different sounds. There is some New Orleans influence, Muscle Shoals, Ray Price, Woody Guthrie, and even some of my dad. I got a lot of friends who are doing the old time country music, and got themselves pigeonholed. Getting pigeonholed into anything is bad in this business. A lot of artists do it to be safe, trying to please the same audience each time. The people who like this record will let me get away with almost anything. I like the flexibility, and all directions are open.”

Justin has been writing music since age 15. A few have stood the test of time, and appear on the CD. “I actually wrote ‘South Georgia Sugar Babe’,’ Lonesome and You’, and ‘Turn Out My Lights’ when I was 15 or 16. A guy named Scotty Melton actually taught me how to write songs. He is from Johnson City, never really left there, but he is a great writer. He still plays some of the bars up there.”

Earle likes to do things his own way now. “I’m not the type of songwriter who lets a song sit there. I know pretty damn well what a song is going to sound like in full production as I am writing it,” he says. “It all starts twisting in my head, which kind of screws me up sometimes because I am hearing steel guitar, fiddles, and can’t concentrate on lyrics. I try not to sit there and hold a guitar in my hands all the time, because I end up jerking around and lose where I want to go. I can end up with a kick-ass elaborate finger pickin’ guitar piece, but no lyrics to go with it. It is really rare that I just sit down with any song and get it all done in one sitting. I will write a couple of lines, and then walk away. Sometimes I am like the ADD poster child of America,” he laughs.

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“Swear I see her in my dreams sometimes

Held up in the middle of the night,

Shakin’ like a pistol in a young man’s hand

There in the pale moonlight.

Standing at the top of that lonely hill

Spared by the company mine,

Is my blue eyed baby with her best dress on

In the shadow of a lonely pine.”

“Lone Pine Hill” from “The Good Life” by Justin Townes Earle

The CD includes an astounding Civil War period song of a soldier’s despair in “Lone Pine Hill.” The gloom of the wayward soldier is a mesmerizing tale, beautifully delivered. Justin was initially afraid to attempt a narrative song. “It took several weeks to get it just right. The Civil War is one of my passions. So I was already drawn to the idea, but I had this fear of writing a story song. I really didn’t want to do it because that is what my dad is known for. I have just never heard any story songs better than his. They are almost perfect, and I really had a fear of trying to compare with that. But, I also discovered that a narrative song is the easiest to write. I wrote about twenty different versions of the song, and then narrowed it down. Always write in pencil,” he laughed.

Other new songs came a bit easier. “What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome” was something that came quickly. It is often the easiest which turns out to be one of the best, as is the case here. This song would fit perfectly in the catalog of Ray Price. “It was one of the last songs I wrote for the record. I wrote it and ‘The Good Life’ in the same day. I started in the morning, just sitting around the house in my underwear all day and finished ‘The Good Life’ at about midnight. My girlfriend went to bed, so I just sat around and kept working. I actually wrote ‘What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome’ in about 15 minutes. I ended up pissing off my girlfriend, because I started playing it really loud when I had finished, and woke her up.”

His finger picking style on guitar is also a blend. “I learned some from dad, who of course learned from Townes [Van Zandt, whom Justin was named after], who learned from Lightnin’ Hopkins. I also have kind of a claw hammer banjo technique I use, which is adapted from what Malcomb Holcombe does, who quite honestly is one of the best songwriters out there today. His hand just kind of flops around almost senselessly, but it is picking out the most precise chord patterns as clean as a whistle. He is amazing to see.”

Justin prefers acoustic over electric guitar, due to the capability of more passion to flow from the strings with his music. “I think in a way it is just me trying to be rebellious against my own generation. Everyone owned an electric guitar. Then there was a brief period after Nirvana unplugged came out that kids started wanting acoustic, but it faded really fast. On electric, your tone is completely controlled by a knob, where on acoustic you can affect your sound by the way you play or fret. It is just an attempt to be a purist for me. All the music I listen to is acoustic. It just has a different feel to it,” states Earle. “It is very rare you run into a player that is magic on electric guitar, like Kenny Vaughn or Jeff Buckley. Buckley is the only solo electric player I have seen that could pull it off. He had a great operatic voice that helped. Whenever I go somewhere and see someone walk up on stage with an electric guitar all by themselves, my first instinct is to find the door and leave immediately.”

Justin had a lot to overcome even to get to this point in his life. His dependency on drugs almost ruined everything. “I wrote a lot of songs, and played a lot of places. Problem was I was too messed up to remember any of them. I came to a point where I had to get control of myself if I wanted to amount to anything. I have been clean ever since, and have more fun remembering things. Drugs can really take a hold of you if you let them. I know too many who are still struggling with that addiction.”

Justin is already planning for his next release. “I got 4 songs up on the board right now, which I think will stand the test of time,” he says. “It will be a similar blend to ‘The Good Life’ I think. I hope to always have that type of a blend.”

When asked about a possible bluegrass song in his near future, he stated “I may. I have been thinking about it for the next CD, maybe throwing in a really hard traditional bluegrass track. It is something I have always loved. If I end up doing it, it will be more of a Doc or Merle Watson kind of spin with more of a blues edge to it, than the super clean direction of say a McCoury.”

Justin has a killer tour schedule already lined up. (Check out his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/justintownesearle for details.) With a somewhat limited catalog of his own music right now, Justin enjoys mixing it up a bit with covers of traditional country. “I like to do some George Jones or Merle, just to show everyone I can, plus I like them,” he laughs. “I also throw in some Gram Parsons, Townes, and some blues from Mance Lipscomb and Lightnin’ Hopkins to keep it mixed a bit.”

One artist you will not hear him cover is Woody Guthrie. “He is just too perfect to cover, at least to me. He is the patron saint of singer songwriters. He invented this thing in a lot of ways. Before him, most people were not writing their own music. They were only doing refurbished versions of old songs. For his time, he has one of the largest catalogs of music. Songwriting used to be a cut and paste job. Dylan and Springsteen are perhaps the best these days at taking what Woody left behind, and building on it. You got to take it and build, or you end up sounding like a Fred Durst.”

Trends are somewhat cyclical. Wait long enough, and what was old-fashioned becomes the new fad. Perhaps that is the role Justin Townes Earle is to fill. He just may be the best man for the job, to deliver traditional music back to the forefront. His new CD is definitely a positive step in that direction. His live performances are a time capsule from the past, and maybe the best of what our future holds in store.