Genes are a funny thing. If you're a horse, they can help land you in the Winner's Circle at Churchill Downs, subsequently allowing you to live out your days eating the finest oats and getting your equine freak on. If you're a human, genes may mean the difference between a basketball scholarship, albinism or just having an abnormally large butt. If you're a musician, well, now the impact of genes gets even more iffy. The Human Genome Project has yet to identify a Grammy gene, so for every Bobby Bare Jr. there's a Frank Sinatra Jr. For every Shooter, there's a Gunnar, a Matthew, a Julian and probably a Sean. And let us never forget that our journey from Hank to Hank III required us to survive Hank Jr.
Justin Townes Earle shoulders, not one, but two heavy names. The Earle surname should be familiar to music fans thanks to his father, Steve, whose skill as a songwriter may someday be equaled by his skill as a political rabble rouser. The Earle name is also shared by his Aunt Stacey, who's 2000Dancin' With Them That Brung Me is worth your attention, and Uncle Patrick, a longtime percussionist in Steve's band, The Dukes. If you don't recognize the name Townes, well, the best I can do is suggest you go to your local record store and ask the clerk for a CD called High, Low and In Between/The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. After that, you're on your own.
MP3 DOWNLOAD : Townes Van Zandt - Waitin' Round To Die
You're not going to find many twenty-five year-olds who can cop to having Roy Orbison's Only The Lonely as a ringtone. Of course, Justin has packed more than a little hard living into those twenty-five years, and he's distilled much of that into his music. His Bloodshot debut will be released on March 25th, and his U.S. tour kicks off this week at SXSW. Simply put, now seems like a good time to be Justin Townes Earle. So leave it to MOKB to screw up a deal with some guy who just wanted to give him a guitar in order to make him talk about his passage from just another hardcore troubadour, to The Good Life.
MP3 DOWNLOAD : Justin Townes Earle - Yuma (from Yuma)
MP3 DOWNLOAD : Justin Townes Earle - Who Am I To Say? (from The Good Life)
LM : I'd like to be the first person to interview you and not ask you about your father. Unfortunately, I can't do that. So, to be fair, let me start by asking you about Townes.
Justin Townes Earle : Well, I knew him some growing up. I mean, Townes was more something I heard about than what I saw, because I didn't grow up with my father. I was raised by my mother, and by the time my father was around, he was sober and staying away from Townes. I definitely saw Townes a good deal as a kid, but we were always surrounded by his music. He's always been one of those things, kind of a mystery to me. In many ways I've wanted to be like Townes, and in many ways I've not wanted to be like Townes. In my early life I ended up following in my father's footsteps, and Townes', and becoming a complete and total dropout drunk and drug addict. But now that that's over, I'm glad I can concentrate on what was beautiful about Townes; those gorgeous songs he was able to write like no one else.
LM : So many people are unaware of him and his music.
JTE : Well, that was largely Townes' fault. It was his fault and it was Tomato Records' fault. When Townes was getting ready to take off, Tomato decided they weren't going to put out his record, a record that was supposed to be called Seven Come Eleven. And Townes had his own demons that fought off success for him.
LM : How do you feel your father's reputation effects how people approach you?
JTE : Well, there are a limited amount of people who really know my father's work. A lot of people know who Steve Earle is, but it's not like he sells a million records. Not even a lot of his fans realize he's made records in the past ten years, you know, they haven't heard anything since Copperhead Road. It doesn't happen as much these days, but when I was just starting out, people would show up expecting me to have this gruff voice, writing political songs and grandstanding in front of audiences about politics, which is the exact opposite of what I do. I, for the most part, leave my politics completely out of my music, because I view music as a place to have a good time and forget about what's going on out there. It's time to relax and have a good fucking time. I want to make you think, but I don't want to make you think about how shitty your life is.
LM : Did your father encourage you to become a musician, as opposed to say, an accountant?
JTE : He did encourage me, because at the point I decided that's what I wanted to do, I was really on my way to prison. I was a huge pain in everybody's ass and I think he was glad I was actually taking an interest in something.
LM : So, when you joined The Dukes, was that an opportunity for you to learn the ropes while he kept an eye on you?
JTE : Touring with The Dukes came about largely because my dad didn't have enough people to play all the parts on the records. At that point, I was really pretty strung out and he wanted to get me out on the road to keep me focused on something. He thought it might help a bit, which it didn't in any form. I managed to get even more fucked up than I did at home. But it was an experience I will always be grateful for because it taught me a lot of Dos and Don'ts that most people at my level don't understand.
LM : Tell me about John Walker's Blues.
JTE : Part of the reason my father wrote that song was that, at the time he was arrested, I was the same age as John Walker. I think that's why my father took such a personal stance on that. He felt for the kid's freedom being taken. He [Walker] did take a radical stance, and everyone was vilifying him, but he was just a kid.
LM : You've mentioned many rock bands as influences, so did you make conscious effort to emphasize your country influences?
JTE : It's just what came out. My first love was acoustic country blues,Lightnin' Hopkins. And then I started listening to Hank Williams and really noticing the black blues influence in country music. That was just the stuff that always got me. To this day, there's nothing I'd rather listen to than old George Jones records. That's the stuff I've always enjoyed the most, so I've never felt I needed to make an effort for my music to come out like that.
LM : What led to you self-releasing your Yuma EP?
JTE : I had offers. I had a deal when I was eighteen with Lost Highway that didn't end up happening. So, at that point I was really frustrated. I started a rock-n-roll band, and that was the music that took a lot of effort for me to write. It drove me kind of insane. I finally decided to make something, just so I could get out on the road. I went into Battle Tapes in Nashville and in a couple hours we laid down all the songs. I just printed it up so I'd have something to sell. I really had no expectations as to what it was going to do, but I wanted to go back to Woodie Guthrie; just get in a room with a couple mics and a guitar and get back to what I felt was the beginning.
LM : How do you feel about Yuma now?
JTE : Well, it ended up getting a good deal of praise, which was unexpected. I was not very happy with the end result, I didn't think my performances were as good as they could have been. But that goes to show what I know, because people really liked the record. And Bloodshot liked it, and my new demos, enough to let me make a couple records, which I'm grateful for.
LM : I hear many influences on The Good Life; Hank Sr. and Ray Price in particular. Do you feel like you're still finding your voice as an artist?
JTE : Song-wise, The Good Life was designed for a specific purpose: to make sure I didn't pigeonhole myself. That's something I took from my father. My father has always spread himself so far across that map that nobody can really pin him down.
LM : Like the DJ on his current tour?
JTE : Yeah. He knows how to keep his head above water. It's like he says aboutGuitar Town. He woke up one day and realized that he didn't want to write songs about cars and girls for the rest of his life, so he quit making rockabilly records. It was a tough transition for him. I wanted to avoid that from the beginning. So, it's not a country record. It's not a blues record. It's not a singer-songwriter record. We got everything from a Ray Price feel, to an old-timey string band feel, to Muscle Shoals. We even go down to New Orleans with it.
LM : Who Am I To Say? is a great track. Do you have a favorite on The Good Life?
JTE : I don't think The Good Life would be complete with every song on there, but Hard Livin' and Who Am I To Say? are a couple of my favorites. But I hated Who Am I To Say? when I wrote it. I absolutely hated it. I didn't know if it was any good. It turns that I do like the song and so do most people who have heard it. Now, I'm really pleased with that song
LM : So you're kicking off a tour with The Felice Brothers on March 11th. Will they be your backing back as well?
JTE : No. I'll be performing with my friend, Cory Younts, who sings tenor vocals on the record. He also plays banjo and mandolin. We'll be doing a duo before The Felice Brothers until we get to Nashville, for my CD release party. In Nashville, we'll switch and I'll have my full band.
LM : And then back to the duo?
JTE : Exactly. My band is seven pieces, not including me. I just can't afford that. I tour in a pickup truck, a late 90s Ford F150. That's why I kept it very organic on the record and will continue to do so. I want to make sure I can do the songs justice either solo or as a duo.
LM : Will this be your first trip to SXSW?
JTE : I've never played SXSW, but I've been there plenty of times, enough to know I'm not a huge fan of Austin during SXSW. Especially now. I don't drink anymore. I don't get high anymore. It's not more trouble than it's worth, but it's close.
LM : What can we expect from your live show?
JTE : Expect some good old-fashioned hillbilly music. Me and Cory, we wear suits when we play and we try to take a page from people like The Louvin Brothers or The Delmore Brothers. Or Jim and Jesse, you know, the famous country duos. You're not going to see me step up onstage and stare at my feet and get pissed when people don't pay attention to me. We come to put on a show. That's exactly what we're going to do.
LM : You're on tour through April, then what?
JTE : Festivals through the summer and some Canadian shows. And then we better be getting over to Europe at some point.
LM : What's the attraction with Europe?
JTE : Well, like most people who play this style of music, I do much better over there. I don't know what it is. This is no hit on Americans, but their society is older, they been around longer than us and I just think they got a leg up on us. You know, Townes couldn't get arrested in the states, but he'd go to Europe and he was king.
LM : Why do you think that is?
JTE : Europe loves great music. They are absolutely ravenous fans. I went last September and we had a really good three week run, so I'll be getting back over there. And the damn dollar is so weak, you gotta get over there and make that money in euros and pounds so you come back with a lot more dollars.
LM : So, what are you listening to these days?
JTE : Mando Saenz. He's a songwriter from Houston who's actually living here in Nashville. He's got two records. One's called Watertown, and the new one's called Bucket. He's definitely my new favorite singer-songwriter in Nashville. And lots of George Jones.
