to move up and down
once a country boy has seen the way the steam rises off a man’s insides on the sidewalk
tends to change the way he thinks, the way he sees everything
and he goes back where he came from
one of these days,
you’ll take one look at me and run
(Source: pacmanjonez)
A few years ago, after a stretch in rehab that capped a spiral of homelessness and drug abuse, Justin Townes Earle started tinkering with a song about the experience. At the time he was staying with his father, the singer Steve Earle, who cratered in the mid-1990s with heroin and jail, then after cleaning up went into a prolific creative rebirth. Steve’s advice about the song: Don’t go there. If songwriting and recovery don’t remain separate, he counseled, “they can both suffer,” Justin says. “It was one of the very few suggestions from a father you pay attention to right off.”
Now the younger Earle broaches the subject in lyrics more obliquely. On his most recent album, “Harlem River Blues,” he sings, “Why do I try my luck? I should never touch the stuff” on the woozy blues tune “Slippin’ and Slidin.’”
That was my realization song,” Mr. Earle recalls. It was written last summer when he was touring continuously, had already fallen off the wagon and was on his way to cutting the album in full relapse, marked by a diet of “vodka for breakfast and cocaine for dessert.” He had to keep his head, relatively speaking, in order to write and record the songs on “Harlem River Blues,” working on them during daylight hours when he was pacing his vodka intake. His productivity would cease around 5 p.m., “Usually by that time I was what most people call drunk, then I’d go out and get what I consider drunk.”
Last September, when Mr. Earle was touring in support of the album, his mounting alcohol and cocaine abuse erupted in a violent altercation with a club promoter in Indianapolis. He was arrested, spent the night in jail and soon after was packed off to a rehab facility in Tennessee. -via WSJJustin Townes Earle - “Harlem River Blues”
Justin Townes Earle - ”Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (Feat Dawn Landes)”
— Melon
Justin Townes Earle - Racing In The Street (Live)
One of the Boss’ finest covered by one of my current favourites. Stark and beautiful…
Jackie Greene covering Bob Dylan’s “Isis”. Can we just duet “Romance in Durango” so I can die happy?
Ben Nichols-Untitled New Song
Arkansas CD and Record Exchange on Jan. 11, 2011.
Red At Night - live in Vienna, Arena (Nov. 7th 2010)
Played live for the first time in 1,5 years and the very first time on the European tour!(Submitted by enola (enola@chello.at):)
justin townes earle performs harlem river blues on letterman, with guest jason isbell.
Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day (Live at the 930 Club, 7.15.06, DC)
In honor of the new Truckers album leaking I want to go back to one of their classics. I was lucky enough to be at this show in the summer of 2006 in DC back when Jason was still in the band. I dragged three of my friends to the show, none of whom knew the truckers particularly well. They loved it.
The show actually streamed live on NPR (and is still available here) and partially because of that, they played for nearly 3 hours. Covers included “Moonlight Mile” by the Rolling Stones, and “People Who Died” by Jim Carroll. Like always though, their best stuff was their own. The screaming, dueling guitars at the end of “Decoration Day” is one my favorite finishes to any song ever, and live its even better as Mike, Patterson, and Jason try to outdo each other.
(Source: andrewice)
