[msb-alumni] Justin Townes Earle, Singer-Songwriter in Father's Footsteps, Dies at 38 died on August 20, 2020
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2020 15:33:27 -0400
BlankJustin Townes Earle, Singer-Songwriter in Father's Footsteps, Dies at 38.
By Ben
Sisario.
He released eight alt-country albums as a solo artist, seeking to emerge from
the
long shadow of the outlaw country star Steve Earle.
Justin Townes Earle, an accomplished alt-country singer and songwriter who was
a son
of the country-rock firebrand Steve Earle, died on Thursday at his home in
Nashville.
He was 38. His death was confirmed late Sunday by his record label, New West,
which
did not give a cause.
"It is with tremendous sadness that we inform you of the passing of our son,
husband,
father and friend Justin," read a post on the younger Mr. Earle's Facebook
page. "So
many of you have relied on his music and lyrics over the years, and we hope
that his
music will continue to guide you on your journeys."
Mr. Earle had big shoes to fill when he released his debut album, "The Good
Life," in
2008. His father has been an outlaw star of the country world since the 1980's;
he
named his son in tribute to Townes Van Zandt, the country-folk songwriter who
was a
master of the bleak, haunting ballad.
Yet from the start Mr. Earle drew the respect of critics and a small but
devoted
following, writing songs of heartbreak, loss and family with a dark narrative
undertow and a sepia-toned folk-rock style that could hark back to Mr. Van
Zandt or
Hank Williams.
On "The Good Life," the title track from Mr. Earle's debut album, a man
abandoned by
his lover brags, unconvincingly, about his freedom.
"All the fancy restaurants won't let me wait inside /
They serve me out the backdoor and never ask for a dime," he sings.
"It's a good life from now on."
He became a rising star in the overlapping scenes of alt-country and Americana.
At
the 2009 Americana Music Honors and Awards, he was named emerging act of the
year;
two years later his "Harlem River Blues" -- about a man contemplating suicide
-- won
song of the year.
Mr. Earle spoke openly about his struggles with addiction, which he said began
as
early as age 12 and included the use of heroin and crack cocaine. He seemed to
be
following in the footsteps of his father, whose own troubles with drugs have
been
well documented.
"I always knew there was something different about the way that I used drugs
and
drank to the way that my friends did," the younger Mr. Earle told the Scottish
newspaper The Scotsman in 2015. "But it's a wild thing to wake up when you're
16
years old and realize you can't stop shooting up."
As news of Mr. Earle's death spread on Sunday and Monday, fellow musicians and
other
cultural figures paid tribute.
On Twitter, the English folk singer Billy Bragg, called him "a brilliant
songwriter
and generous soul."
The writer Stephen King said, "What a loss."
Justin Townes Earle was born in Nashville on Jan. 4, 1982. His mother,
Carol-Ann
Hunter, was Steve Earle's third wife. They separated when Justin was young, and
he
grew up in Nashville listening to Nirvana and hip-hop before finding
inspiration from
Woody Guthrie and Mr. Van Zandt, who was his father's mentor and sometime
tormentor.
("My mother hated Townes Van Zandt," Mr. Earle told Rolling Stone in 2019,
"because
of the trouble that Dad and him got into.")
As a young man, he played in a ragtime band called the Swindlers and a
country-punk
group, the Distributors.
For a time he played in his father's band, the Dukes, before being kicked out
for his
drug use.
He released eight full albums as a solo artist, most recently "The Saint of
Lost
Causes," in 2019.
Along with heartache and betrayal, family was a recurring subject in his songs.
In "Mama's Eyes," from his 2009 album "Midnight at the Movies," he sang:
"I am my father's son /
I've never known when to shut up" and
"I've got my mama's eyes /
Her long thin frame and her smile /
And I still see wrong from right."
In a creative burst, Mr. Earle recorded the songs for his 2014 album, "Single
Mothers," and his 2015 album, "Absent Fathers" together.
Reviewing the latter, Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote:
"The music isn't pumped up with arena-rock flourishes or computer tricks, and
it
doesn't hide bruises and aches. It draws proudly on Southern soul."
Mr. Earle resisted the interpretation of such material as being
straightforwardly
autobiographical, though he acknowledged that much of it recalled his own
experience.
In addition to his father, he is survived by his wife, Jennifer Marie Earle,
whom he
married in 2013; their daughter, Etta St. James Earle, who was born in 2017;
his
mother, Carol Ann Earle; and his brothers, Ian and John Henry.
Mr. Earle occasionally performed with his father and over the years had to
parry
interviewers' questions about his being the son of a famous musician who is
known for
a rebellious streak.
"I mean, I didn't do anything differently than what my father was doing," Mr.
Earle
said in an interview on NPR in 2008. "It's a really hard family to rebel in. I
could
have become an accountant. Or I could have become a Republican -- that would
have
really pissed him off."
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