Justin Townes Earle passed away on August 23, 2020, leaving behind an impressive catalog of music starting with a debut song on one of his father’s albums.
The first time I heard Justin Townes Earle’s voice was on the final song of his father Steve Earle’s 2003 album, Just An American Boy. The father gave his son the final track on the album on the son’s song, “Time You Waste.” Although I still had to wait several years for an album from the talented son, that wonderful debut led to a career of stellar music and albums. So, like many fans, I was heartbroken to learn that 2020 had claimed the life of Justin Townes Earle at the age of 38.
The news sent me back to listen to many of his albums that I had in my collection, including from his debut EP Yuma (2007) through his much acclaimed Harlem River Blues (2010) through his personal exploration in Single Mothers (2014) and Absent Fathers (2015) to his latest The Saint of Lost Causes(2019). Earle had carved out his own niche, separate from his father, but still influenced by him as well as the singer-songwriter he was named for, Townes Van Zandt.
Like his father and the man he was named for, Justin Townes Earle faced his own substance abuse problems throughout his life. We always rooted for him to succeed in controlling the demons, as his father had done. So we are heartbroken that he died even so much younger than his namesake, who had died at the age of 52.
Thinking about the music of Justin Townes Earle in this age of the pandemic where we have lost so many, I keep going back to that debut recording of “Time You Waste.”
Don’t think that I, I wouldn’t take every minute back If I could bring myself To live like that.
Cause all the other ones, You only get one chance; It’s seeing life through the eyes of the innocent; So take it slow; No need in haste,
Because the time you’ll miss Is the time you waste;
Yeah the time you’ll miss, babe Is the time you waste.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Justin Townes Earle, including his wife and daughter, his mother, and his father Steve Earle.
Steve Earle’s latest album Ghosts of West Virginia features music that mostly came out of a play about a mine explosion that killed 29 miners in April 2010. The play was starting a successful run in New York until the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down. But fortunately we have Earle’s music in one of his strongest recent albums.
Earle’s previous album that is most similar to Ghosts of West Virginia is his 1999 bluegrass album The Mountain. Like that album, Ghosts of West Virginia avoids some of the rock sound that appears on many of Earle’s other albums.
For the most part, one might never guess that the album originated out of a play. Although the first song on the album, “Heaven Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” is reminiscent of a typical opening chorus for a play, the rest of the album stands on its own with strong songs and performances, such as for one of my favorite songs on the album,”The Mine.”
Earle began working on the album after Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen contacted him about a play they were working on about the Upper Big Branch mine disaster called Coal Country. In making the album, Earle traveled to West Virginia with Blank and Jensen to interview survivors of the explosion for further inspiration.
Earle, a liberal activist, has asserted that in making the album he wanted to try to find some common ground with people who might disagree with him politically. For this album, he explained he wanted to create “a record that speaks to and for people who didn’t vote the way I did.”
For Earle, though, using his art to explore other personalities and other views is nothing new. It is what an artist does. Earlier Steve Earle songs have humanized murderers (“Billy Austin”), death row prison guards (“Ellis Unit One”), outlaws (“Tom Ames’ Prayer”), and real-life American-turned enemy combatant John Walker Lindh (“John Walker’s Blues”). Although the Lindh song earned Earle some scorn in some corners, it is doubtful that anyone on either side of the political divide will find much argument with the humanity of Ghosts of West Virginia.
Earle also has a history of generosity in giving space to other artists even if those artists may upstage him. For example, on his 1996 album, Earle sang a duet with Lucinda Williams on the final song, “You’re Still Standing There,” and it was only the strength of an amazing album that kept Williams from stealing the show. And on his 2003 live album Just An American Boy, Earle gave his son and emerging artist Justin Townes Earle the final spot with the son’s song, “Time You Waste,” announcing the arrival of a great talent.
Here, on Ghosts of West Virginia, Earle does something similar, giving “If I Could See Your Face Again” — a standout song from the point of view of a miner’s widow — to Eleanor Whitmore of The Mastersons. Whitmore’s performance and the aching song breaks your heart (perhaps the added emotion comes from the fact that the Steve Earle & The Dukes album is the first since Earle lost his bassist and band member of 30 years, Kelley Looney).
If there is any weakness to this Steve Earle album, it is the short runtime. Coming in at slightly less than thirty minutes, one wishes Earle could have added more music. By the time you become immersed n the world of this West Virginia mining disaster, the album ends. On the other hand, it is not such a bad thing that an album leaves the listener wanting more.
What do you think of Ghosts of West Virginia? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Steve Earle’s 1988 Copperhead Road album ends very differently than it begins. The album starts with the hard rock title track about a Vietnam veteran who — similar to his bootlegging father and grandfather — ends up growing illegal drugs. The album ends, by contrast, with a Christmas song, “Nothing But a Child.”
Earle originally wrote “Nothing But a Child” for the Oak Ridge Boys, which explains why it may sound a little out of place on the album. He knew the country group were putting out an album and tried writing a Christmas song for them.
With that deadline, Earle composed “Nothing But a Child” in July. Trying to find the Christmas spirit during the summer, he thought of the connection between the baby of the Christmas story and his own child.
After his song was rejected for the Oak Ridge Boys, Earle was putting the finishing touches on Copperhead Road. So, he decided to add this new song to his album. He put together a group to record it, and also called in Maria McKee (formerly of Lone Justice), who was in Nashville to record with U2. And, on a day that was “hot as Hell,” according to Earle, they recorded “Nothing But a Child.”
“Nothing But a Child” does begin with the Christmas scene of the Wise Men following a star. But coming upon the baby Jesus Christ, “They scarce believed their eyes, they’d come so many miles / And this miracle they prized was nothing but a child.”
From there, one may see how the song’s inspiration comes more from Steve Earle’s fatherhood than from any religious sentiment. He laments how “nothing but a child” can guide a weary world and allow all of us to recall being children ourselves again. There is something about remembering how we saw life as children that may change one’s perspective on what is important to us today.
So, “Nothing But a Child” is really a song about the faith to get through another day with hope in our hearts. It is a Christmas song the way Christmas can be celebrated in various ways by people of different religions — or no religion. And in doing so, finding something common and affirming in the traditions connected to the image of a baby in a manger thousands of years ago.
Perhaps the non-Christmas aspect of song partly about Jesus’s birth is part of the reason that none of the covers of the song approach the quality of performances by Earle, who has battled his own demons and started over more than once in his life. People who have covered the song include Kathy Mattea (on her 1993 Christmas album Good News), Robin & Linda Williams (also on a Christmas album), The Trail Band (in a rendition evocative of Earle’s versions), and various performances in churches (by congregations and choirs and solo performers). Yet, treating “Nothing But a Child” as a Christmas or religious song dilutes its universal message.
Earle’s song has always touched me in the way it connects us through our hopes. This connection makes the song fit better on an album with troubled characters with broken hearts rather than on an album with bells, Santas, and sleighs. And for me, in a year of trials that included losing two of my best friends, it reminds me of how I can still be hopeful in the upcoming year where my wonderful wife and I will soon be joined by another soul.
May you discover hope this season, seeking awe in whatever form, finding another chance allowed. Merry Christmas.
What is your favorite Christmas song that is not really a Christmas song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Steve Earle has released a wonderful tribute to one of his mentors, Guy Clark, with his album GUY. Yet, the album is a bit of a surprise. Earle has long been outspoken on important issues, incorporating political messages into many of his songs. So, one may wonder why, during a crazy period of American political history, Earle’s new music is largely silent on the issues of the day. The question about why Earle is doing this album at this time is further complicated by the fact that there is already an outstanding multi-artist tribute to Clark. So, why GUY?
During the George W. Bush administration, Earle released the album Just an American Boy (2003), along with a documentary by the same name. The album featured songs criticizing the war, and Earle provoked controversy with his song humanizing “enemy combatant” John Walker Lindh (“John Walker’s Blues”). When Bill Clinton was in the White House, Earle called for Woody Guthrie and other activists to “come back” in “Christmas in Washington.” When Barack Obama was president, Earle sang about a “City of Immigrants.” Going back to the beginning of his career, Earle was never afraid to take on important issues, recording several songs about capital punishment.
But now, as the current occupant sits in the White House, Steve Earle gives us a tribute album for his friend? Really?
What “GUY” Is
Let’s start with the fact that GUY is one of Earle’s best albums in recent years, perhaps since 2004’s The Revolution Starts Now. As a starting point, Guy Clark was one of the great American songwriters, so Earle had a great group of songs from which to choose.
And Earle and the Dukes sound great. Earle and the Dukes, for the most part, do not change a lot in their interpretations of the songs. There are a few exceptions, like a more rocking version of “Out in the Parking Lot.” While Earle does not radically rework “Dublin Blues,” Earle and the band highlight the boasts in the song (“I’ll stand up and be counted”). While Clark’s voice emphasized the sadness in the lyrics.
Throughout the album, the Dukes give new energy to the songs, and the band’s work is a large reason to get this album. The Dukes include Kelley Looney (bass), Ricky Ray Jackson (pedal steel guitar), Eleanor Whitmore (fiddle and mandolin), Chris Masterson (guitar), and Brad Pemberton (drums).
And the world can always use another version of “L.A. Freeway.” It is one of the best songs ever written about leaving somewhere.
GUY is a personal album for Earle. Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt were two important mentors to Earle. Earle has jokingly explained that the reason he made GUY was that he had already created a tribute album of Van Zandt’s songs, Townes(2009). So, he feared meeting Clark in the afterlife and having to explain why he made an album for Van Zandt but not for Clark.
It is a funny story, but perhaps there is a sense of obligation that helps explain why Earle made GUY. And it gives Earle a reason to gather together friends like Rodney Crowell, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Emmylou Harris to sing Clark’s song, “Old Friends.”
So Come Back Steve Earle, Come Back To Us Now
So, why GUY? Well, Earle crafted a beautiful album of wonderful songs played with energy by the Dukes. And even in troubled times, we need to affirm personal values and our own lives and bonds. Like Earle, who recently saw the ending of his marriage to singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, all of us must trudge on with our own real lives.
So, singing songs about friends, fathers (“Randall Knife”), broken hearts (“Dublin Blues”), old men (“Desperados Waiting for a Train”), and other personal connections is needed in troubled times, perhaps even more than other times. We need to remember our departed friends, as Earle is remembering Guy Clark. We all need sanctuary from the evening news and our lives.
So if you do not have this album, which is one of Earle’s best, get it. He will get around to the political message songs. Earle says he has already been working on such a political album. He plans to release it in time for the 2020 election.
What is your favorite Steve Earle song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Steve Earle is releasing a new album as a tribute to Texas singer-songwriter Guy Clark. The new album, Guy, will feature sixteen tracks, including the newly released single, “Dublin Blues.”
As a big fan of guy Clark, I am excited to hear that Earle is dedicating an album to his friend. But it will be difficult to surpass the wonderful 2011 multi-artist tribute to Clark, This One’s for Him. Still, Earle’s personal connection to Clark as well as his great talent make him the perfect person to spread the word about the underappreciated singer-songwriter. Earle did a similar feat for his other mentor Townes Van Zandt with the album Townes in 2009.
The new album will feature a number of Guy Clark’s classic songs, like “L.A. Freeway,” “The Randall Knife,” “Desperados Waiting For a Train,” and “She Ain’t Going Nowhere.” Earle recently released the first single, “Dublin Blues.” Check it out.
Interestingly, Clark’s song “Dublin Blues” is itself a tribute to another legend, Doc Watson. And the music for the song goes back much further than that. Check out our previous post on the story behind “Dublin Blues.”
What do you think of Earle’s cover? Leave your two cents in the comments.
