CD Odyssey Disc 1390: Justin Townes Earle

I’m just back from the house of a friend who is parting with his CD collection. I scored a number of great albums that you’ll be reading about soon enough.

My last randomly determined review was a Steve Earle album, and this next one is by his son, Justin Townes Earle. Is it just a coincidence, or the universe winking at me? Does it matter?

Disc 1390 is…. Kids in the Street

Artist: Justin Townes Earle

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? It’s a Giant Head Cover! JT’s cap says that he works down on the docks, but his glasses say he works in a coffee shop.  Lest you think I’m mocking him, I have rocked the same hat/glasses combo, albeit with a nicer shirt.

How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan, so just bought this album when it came out.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Justin Townes Earle albums. One of them has to come in last and it is “Kids in the Street”. Since I’ve now reviewed all five, here’s a recap:

1. Single Mothers: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 893)
2. Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way Feel About Me Now: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 906)
3. Midnight at the Movies: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 802)
4. Absent Fathers:  3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1033)
5. Kids in the Street: 3 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 3 stars

It took a while for me to figure out what I didn’t like about “Kids in the Street”, and along that path of discovery I found a few things I did. In fact, I started liking it more and more, like I was developing an audio version of Stockholm Syndrome. I better write the review while I still have mean and entertaining things to say.

Despite this growing sense of bonhomie, there was still an undercurrent of dislike that clung to the record. What was it? Was it Justin Townes Earle’s voice? Partly, yes. I can’t tell if he’s had too many voice lessons or not enough, but there is a kind of over-shaping of the vowels that sometimes goes on in the back of his mouth. At its worst it becomes a caterwaul, like that modulating yowl your cat will throw at you when he’s not in distress, but wants your attention nonetheless. The tunes and lyrics are solid, and I just wanted Earle to sing them straight, and the songs where he did tend to be my favourites.

Maybe it was all those bluesy flourishes putting me off. Again, partly. I’m not a big fan of barroom blues, but Earle is heavily influenced by it. Despite this, after a few listens it faded pleasantly into the background the same way a good bar band will when you’re enjoying a few beers with your friends at a half-empty pub.

Then it hit me as I was listening for about the fourth time. It was…the jazz. There isn’t a lot of it, but it wafts in from time to time, like the fish that does in the dinner guests in Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. When it appears, it is one too many influences on an album that’s already being pulled in a lot of musical directions.

However, this record has some solid moments. The opening track, “Champagne Corolla” is one of them. A whimsical fun track about seeing a pretty woman drive by in a Corolla. Not exactly the world’s sexiest car, but Earle is well aware of lack of glamour in his choice of car imagery. As he points out:

“I don't care what no man say
She can run all week on just one tank
Goes to show you
Maybe baby got a head on her shoulders
And she sure looks sweet driving by in that champagne Corolla”

On “Short Hair Woman” Earle also sings about his preference for exactly that, I think, because, once again, he sees it as practical. It’s a cute song despite violating my firmly held principle that how a woman chooses to style her hair is nobody’s business except her own.

At the other end of the emotional spectrum is the wistful title track. Accompanied by a stripped-down guitar picking pattern, Earle looks back on an imperfect life, not missing it so much as mourning how things change over time.

In the end, the combination of solid songs like “Kids in the Street” and a dose of Stockholm Syndrome were enough to rescue this record from the giveaway pile.

Best tracks: Champagne Corolla, Maybe a Moment, Kids in the Street, Same Old Staggolee

CD Odyssey Disc 1033: Justin Townes Earle

This is the second review in a row of an album released in 2015 and the fourth of the last nine. I guess it was a good year for music. Or it could be…random.

Disc 1033 is…Absent Fathers

Artist: Justin Townes Earle

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? It’s the sequel to the cover for “Single Mothers” (reviewed back at Disc 893). That cover featured two little kids, standing in a park. This one features two adults striking the same pose, but standing in the dark. Maybe the two covers taken together are some kind of metaphor for how all that magic in the world of kids just fades to black as you grow up. Lighten up, JT; the world is a pretty magical place at any age.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review and listened to a few tracks, and it sounded pretty good, so I decided to give it a shot.

How It Stacks Up:  I thought I was going to like this album more than I did. I expected it to finish second, but it only managed to place fourth out of five albums. That means both “Midnight at the Movies” and “Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now” both move up a spot.

Ratings: 3 stars

Sometimes the opening track of an album overshadows everything that follows. In the case of “Absent Fathers” this was true, and with a couple years of separation, I now realize that the opening track was so good it made me like the album more than it deserved.

Not that the rest of the album isn’t solid – it is – but there is just no matching that opening song, “Farther From Me.” It is a broadside against poor fathers everywhere, fuelled no doubt by JT’s own complicated relationship with his father, famed but troubled troubadour Steve Earle.

On 2009’s “Midnight at the Movies,” Earle had thrown a few backhands against dear old dad on “Mama’s Eyes”, but it is within the context of praising his mother’s kindness. Six years later, he gives dear old dad his full attention with sharp and hurt-filled lines including:

“Sometimes I wonder if you realize who you’re talking to
Ah but you won’t break my heart again, no
Broke it once, I was too young
And it didn’t mend”

“I’ve suffered for your foolish heart and your desperate needs
And now after all this time
You’re still slipping farther from me”

Those lines are stark, honest and more than a little cruel and Earle sings them with conviction that tells you it hurts him as much to say it as it would for a father to hear it.

“Farther From Me” is a tough act to follow, and Earle never again hits the same level on the record. That isn’t to say there aren’t other great moments though. “Why” follows it up with a lyrical lilt and its own share of hurt, and “Call Your Momma” shows Earle turning himself into the target, taking the part of a callous lover who knows he’s being cruel, but can’t help himself.

Musically, the album is heavily influenced by the Delta blues, with hints of country swing. Earle’s voice has the perfect warble for the style, and he knows how to slide in and out of the pocket. Sometimes his vocal is so focused on finding the right rhythm and emotional commitment that he sacrifices clear enunciation. This had me wanting him to pull just a little of that raw feeling back inside and the let the song unfold.

That said, the way Earle sings creates a broken rhythm that is a good match to the subject matter of these songs, which are heavily focused on heartache and relationships well past the point of recovery.

Even on “Day and Night” where Earle sings about a relationship that is still strong, and where his woman has his back through ‘day and night, change and uncertainty’ he still approaches it from a position of wretchedness:

“Once my back was strong

Now I’m on my knees

My pockets are filled

With broken, worthless things”

Makes me want to give him a hug, but I’d be afraid to break him.

A special shout out to Paul Niehaus on electric guitar and pedal steel, who grounds these songs in a place that is mournful, but still balanced against the total despair of Earle’s delivery. If anything, it helps save the record, because while Earle’s melancholy is real, the record suffers from a lack of lighter moments. At times, it wallows, and while we all need a good wallow I wish Earle had written a few more songs when he was having a good day.

While this isn’t my favourite Justin Townes Earle album, it is more a matter of personal style (the amateur producer in me wanted a bit more country side, and he preferred old blues and early rock and roll). The way he fearlessly climbs down into the depths of the human soul isn’t always pretty, but the bravery of it all is undeniable.

Best tracks: Farther From Me, Why, Call Ya Momma, Day and Night

CD Odyssey Disc 906: Justin Townes Earle

What is up with all the longwinded album titles lately? Here’s another one…

Disc 906 is….Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now

Artist: Justin Townes Earle

Year of Release: 2012

What’s up with the Cover? Justin is the perfect dejected hipster, looking at the ground and thinking about how to make his outfit more boring in future. It won’t be easy…

Behind him a tough-looking woman wearing Lenny Kravitz’s sunglasses has finished her spray-paint job of the album title. “Come back when you don’t have to roll those pants up to make ‘em fit” her eyes seem to be saying, as she exits stage right.

How I Came To Know It: I got into Justin Townes Earle a year or so ago, and I’ve been buying up most (but not all) of his albums. This is my most recent purchase.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four of Justin Townes Earle’s seven albums. Of the four that I have, “Nothing’s Gonna Change…” is about equal with “Midnight at the Movies” (reviewed back at Disc 802) but for argument’s sake I’ll put it just ahead of it, at number three overall.

Ratings: 3 stars

As you might guess from the album cover, Justin Townes Earle is a world-class moper. “Nothing’s Gonna Change…” is at its best when he’s in full wallow.

The record starts out strong, with “Am I That Lonely Tonight?” The song is partly about one of Justin’s favourite topics; his famous dad (and regular subject of reviews on this blog) roots/folk artist Steve Earle. Something about his love/hate relationship with his father brings out the best in Earle the Younger. It should get tiresome over time, but it always seems to work. The honest conflict within the boy who once inspired his dad to write “Little Rock n’ Roller” is clear as he warbles:

“Hear my father on the radio singing take me home again

300 miles from the Carolina coast and I'm

I'm skin and bones again

Sometimes I wish that I could get away

Sometimes I wish that he'd just call

Am I that lonely tonight, I don't know.”

The next track is more up tempo, but just as rough lyrically. If Earle lays the guilt trip hard on his dad, it is clear he takes his fair share back when thinking about his mom:

“Mama I’m hurtin’ in the worst way

I got now money in my pocket, no place to stay

When I see you out in the streets

You never know what to say

But it doesn’t matter, momma

If you always look the other way.”

After these two strong tracks the album loses focus a bit with some good tracks, but nothing that grabbed my attention. The tunes on “Nothing’s Gonna Change…” have elements of soul that cuts both ways. When it works, it adds edge and bluesy hurt to songs that might otherwise seem trite. When it doesn’t work, it drowns Earle’s powerful lyrics in too much production and too many horn flourishes.

A good example of this is “Down on the Lower East Side” which has what could be a cool cross-section of organ, steel guitar and trumpet. Instead it adds additional instruments at every turn and with too many choices your ear ends up unanchored. There is a thoughtfulness expressed in the layers, though, and I suspect those readers who enjoy lots of production layers will like the experience more than I did.

After a bit of wandering, the album regains its focus near the end, starting with “Unfortunately, Anna” which manages to simultaneously capture wanderlust and stagnation. The song makes you feel that while the down-and-out dream more than anyone of getting away, they are also the ones who tend to get nowhere the fastest.

The album ends with “Movin’ On”, another introspective number but this one with a galloping bass beat. Earle wraps his earlier themes of maternal shame and paternal frustration into a single road trip song that becomes an introspective journey into trouble:

“Well I talked to my mom today, she seems like she's doing fine

Tell her I've been getting sick again, we both pretend we don't know why

She says 'one more drop of rain'...she swears we'll all be drowned alive

And she asked me how my father's been, we both pretend we don't know why”

If “Unfortunately, Anna” is a song about dreaming of getting away and going nowhere, “Movin’ On” is the opposite –a reminder that no matter how jaunty the tune or how long the road, you can't outrun your problems.

Earle seems to understand this, and “Nothing’s Gonna Change…” benefits from his willingness to expose raw nerves – both his and others – and his talent for casting old musical notions in a fresh light. This record falters and it loses momentum in places, but you’ve got to admire Earle for swinging for the fences when it happens.

Best tracks:  Am I That Lonely Tonight?, Look the Other Way, Unfortunately Anna, Movin’ On

CD Odyssey Disc 893: Justin Townes Earle

Hello Saturday morning! I have a very lazy weekend, which is exactly what I need sometimes. I plan to spend a lot of time with Sheila and listen to a lot of music.

Disc 893 is….Single Mothers

Artist: Justin Townes Earle

Year of Release: 2014

What’s up with the Cover? They grow up so fast don’t they? Particularly when they pose in adult clothing and get all serious. This cover has a nice simplicity to it, and a hint of trouble in the expressions of the kids which is exactly what the album calls for thematically.

It may just be the Canadian in me but is that a portrait of Burton Cummings in the background? You may ask “which portrait” but I’m pretty sure you can guess who. Get it? Get it? Man I crack myself up.

How I Came To Know It: I went to buy Earle’s 2015 album “Absent Fathers” and this album (which is really a companion piece released just a few months earlier) was also there so I bought it at the same time.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four of Justin Townes Earle’s albums. They are all pretty close in ranking, but I’ll put “Single Mothers” first. The competition is tough, though, and on any given day it could be as low as third depending on my mood.

Ratings: 4 stars

Heartache is a common theme in music, but not everyone does it well. Justin Townes Earle does heartache like a champ, and “Single Mothers” is him at his rainy-day finest.

As Earle’s career has progressed he has infused more and more blues into his music. Most of the songs on “Single Mothers” have bluesy chord progressions but I still can’t rightly call it blues. There are too many elements of country and rock infused throughout. Like a lot of good artists, Earle is hard to categorize.

The opening track is a prime example. “Worried Bout the Weather” has a country mosey to it that is reinforced by a steel guitar, but Earle’s delivery is all about the blues. He has a very interesting throaty-tone to his voice and he kind of warbles around like a latter-day Otis Redding in a lower register. I suspect he’d like the comparison.

Earle tends to tackle very personal topics and for the most part he foregoes metaphor in favour of plain talking. Of course there are exceptions (“Worried Bout the Weather” is not actually about the weather) but for the most part Earle doesn’t want any sugar coating on the bitter pills he’s swallowing.

Every Earle album has a song that punches me right in the solar plexus and leaves me gasping for air. On “Single Mothers” that song is “Picture in a Drawer” which is one of the top ten depressing songs I’ve ever heard. It has a quiet almost muted production that makes you think of someone sitting in a dark room with thick curtains drawn. When Earle’s voice breaks that spell it is only to expose the darkness in the mind of the person sitting there, reluctantly taking a call from his momma:

“Ah but momma if you don't mind can we talk about something else?

Momma please don't come over, this ain't nothing you can know

You'll be the first to know when I start to come around

I'm not drowning I'm just seeing how long I can stay down.

“Momma she's gone, just a picture in a drawer

Kind of hurt that takes a rainy day and hurts that much more

Momma she's gone, well you know there's nothing tying me to this town

Now that she's gone

Don't know why I ever come back, I guess I just tagged along

I can't believe that once I called this place my home

I'm walking the streets and all I see is ghosts.”

Note how Earle deftly creates lots of long ‘o’ internal vowel rhymes but never allows the lines to rhyme perfectly, creating a sense of unease and incompleteness. But forget all the English lit analysis: put this stuff to music and it busts me up every time I hear it. Despite this I can’t stop putting it on over and over again. It is wallowing at its absolute best.

After hearing “Picture in a Drawer” Earle turns the tempo up, but “Wanna Be A Stranger” and “White Gardenias” but they are still more songs about relationship breakdown. They may not be as perfectly poignant as “Picture in a Drawer” but lines like “my heart didn’t break/it tore apart like paper” keep the quality of the heartache at a high level.

The record is only 10 songs and 29 minutes long and it always ends too soon for me, but it is good to be left wanting more. Packaging-wise, I’d like a record this poetic to include a lyrics booklet, but I suppose in 2014 with the CD market dying that is a pretty big ask.

The album ends with “Burning Pictures” which is a fitting end to a record with this much hurt on it. It’s got a triumphant feel and a rock guitar riff that shakes off the torpor and reminds us that at some point we have to shake off our past mistakes and regrets. As Earle puts it “aren’t you tired of lighting fires and burning pictures?” The music implies that our curtains-drawn momma’s boy might just decide to get outside and see the world. Knowing Earle it’ll still be raining, but this is great music for walking in the rain.

If you are only going to get one Justin Townes Earle album then you are an idiot. However, even idiots deserve a break; give yourself one and buy “Single Mothers.”

Best tracks:  Worried Bout the Weather, Today and a Lonely Night, Picture in a Drawer, Wanna Be A Stranger, White Gardenias, Burning Pictures

CD Odyssey Disc 802: Justin Townes Earle

This review was slightly delayed, partly due to my busy social calendar, but also because it was a newly purchased album. This meant that I had to give it multiple listens before I was confident I had grokked it in its fullness.

Disc 802 is….Midnight at the Movies

Artist: Justin Townes Earle

Year of Release: 2009

What’s up with the Cover? Justin’s at the movies, apparently with really hot girl who is only kind of interested in him. It makes sense when you hear the song. Her name’s Martha, by the way.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve known Justin Townes Earle’s been making music for a while, but I am always leery of sons or daughters of famous musicians (his father is Steve Earle). When I read good things about his latest album, “Absent Fathers” I decided to give him a shot. I loved that record and have been drilling backward through his work ever since. “Midnight at the Movies” is the most recent purchase in that journey.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Justin Townes Earle albums and I really like all of them. That said, I must put one last and “Midnight at the Movies” is it.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

Although “Midnight at the Movies” is only the second album released by Justin Townes Earle, it already demonstrates a maturity that many artists fail to ever achieve.

I expect that part of this being exposed to music at an early age (he may not like his father, but being the son of a famous singer-songwriter has at least this one perk). However, it is also clear that the younger Earle is a student of the early forms of country and folk music in his own right.

This is clear on the record, which has an old-timey feel that will have you wondering if some of the songs are covers of old standards. Not so however, as every song but one is written by Justin Townes Earle. That one is a great cover of a 1987 Replacements song (“Can’t Hardly Wait”). It just seems like the songs are old as dirt because Earle has such a strong understanding of his own musical tradition.

“They Killed John Henry” could have appeared seamlessly in period movies like “O Brother Where Art Thou” and “What I Mean To You” feels like an old fifties country song. These songs appeal to me slightly less, but I’m glad they are on the album to show Earle’s range.

Having just listened to a bunch of Dwight Yoakam songs, I also hear those urban cowboy influences in Earle’s music giving it a twang and an edge as well.

I like Earle best when he is at his most contemporary. The title track is gorgeously structured song that is both forlorn and romantic at the same time. Earle knows the number one lesson of writing, which is to focus on the specific. The whole song is a portrait of the lonely people you’ll meet at the late late show, artfully delivered in less than three and a half minutes. The romance that does exist is hesitant and fleeting, with the love interest (the aforementioned Martha) keeping her emotional distance:

"She never says too much, she just sits down beside me and puts her hand in mine.

She's got a gentle way that keeps me from feeling so alone.

She always shows up late and leaves before the credits roll.

And I never watch her leave."

The late late show is the place people go to be alone together, and Earle makes it clear that anything too intimate would break the mood the patrons are there to experience:

This is early in Justin Townes Earle’s career and he isn’t quite as depressing as he gets on later records. That said, he still finds time to tell some sad tales, including a song about infidelity (“Someday I’ll Be Forgiven For This”) and the heartbreaking tale of a downtrodden street prostitute (“Black Eyed Suzy”).

Every one of the Justin Townes Earle albums I’ve heard seems to have at least one song where he explores his rotten relationship with his dad. This relationship often inspires J.T.’s best work, and “Midnight at the Movies” is no exception with “Mama’s Eyes.”

What makes “Mama’s Eyes” so compelling is the honest way Earle admits that as much as he doesn’t like his father, they are in many ways alike:

“I am my father's son

I've never known when to shut up

I ain't fooling no one

I am my father's son

We don't see eye to eye

And I'll be the first to admit I've never tried

And sure it hurts, but it should hurt sometimes

We don't see eye to eye”

For all those admissions, Earle ends the song leaving no doubt where his familial loyalties lie:

“I've got my mama's eyes

Her long thin frame and her smile

And I still see wrong from right

Cause I've got my mama's eyes”

Earle knows how to write for his voice, which is strong and bluesy. The musicians he’s pulled together are excellent and the song arrangements let them show off just the right amount without letting the songs stray too far. The album has 12 songs but it is all over in 32 minutes, leaving you wanting more.

If you like your country music thoughtful, edged with sorrow and aware of its roots then there is a good chance you are going to like this album, and most other Justin Townes Earle offerings as well.

Best tracks:  Midnight at the Movies, Mama’s Eyes, Can’t Hardly Wait, Black Eyed Suzy, Someday I’ll Be Forgiven For This