Justin Townes Earle, an acclaimed singer-songwriter in the Americana / alt-country field and the son of Steve Earle, has died at the age of 38, according to an announcement on his social media accounts.
“It is with great sadness that we inform you about the passing of our son, husband, father and friend Justin,” read the statement on Facebook and Instagram. “So many of you have relied on his music and lyrics over time and we hope his music will continue to guide you on your journeys. You will miss dear Justin. ”
No cause of death was immediately reported.
Fans and friends reacted to the news with shock and sadness as word began to spread Saturday night, from Head & the Heart and Margo Price to author Stephen King.
“RIP Justin Townes Earle,” tweeted the band’s Head & the Heart. “We had the pleasure of playing a few shows together. He was such an incredible songwriter and authentic soul. This year is a thief. ”
Justin Townes Earle RIP
We had the pleasure of playing a few shows together. He was such an incredible songwriter and authentic soul. This year is a thief.
My friend, Justin Townes Earle, has passed away. Such a great songwriter … he took me on 2 tours and always treated me so kindly … he understood struggle, he understood joy … I saw him at the peaks and valleys of both through the 13 years that i knew him … we will miss you JT ❤ pic.twitter.com/rq74Qu3Hif
Earle was named in part after the legendary singer Townes Van Zandt, who was a friend and mentor of his famous father, Steve. The singer grew up in a less affluent part of Nashville, raised by his mother, Carol Ann Hunter Earle, before forming an adult bond with his father.
He released his first EP, “Yuma,” in 2007, and was signed by Bloodshot and released his next debut, “The Good Life,” the following year.
In 2009, he won an award from the Americana Music Association for New and Emerging Artist of the Year. He was once again the recipient of a top honor when his song “Harlem River Blues” won the song of the year in 2011.
Earle was open about having trouble dealing with addiction from the time he was 14, and had multiple experiences with relapsing and rehab. His website had referred to “a newfound sobriety. “One day I just realized that it’s not cool to die young, and it’s even less cool to die after 30,” he said in a bio on his site, written when he was 32.
His most recent album, and second for the New West label, “The Saint of Lost Causes,” came out in 2019. He was continuing with tournaments from March to March, when the pandemic put a stop to live shows.
In an interview last year with The Boot, Earle talks about his soon-to-be 2-year-old daughter, Etta St. James, and how they inspired him to write a less intimate, more socially conscious set of material for what turned out to be his swan song.
“My daughter is probably the reason I stopped writing songs that were so introverted and came out into the world,” he admits. ‘I had to worry about the world because of her. I bought her a 9MM [handgun] the day she was born because I’m scared the hell out of her. “I have a daughter; I can not stop caring,” says Earle, with an obvious hint of pragmatic pride. “I have a mother I take care of. I can never stop caring. What I will stop doing it, finally … it’s what the record says.You push white trash or poor black people down like who’s tall enough, we’ll respond.We will respond.And you will not like it.Baby Boomers would like to say that they stopped the Vietnam War, but they ruined the stock market too. Congratulations, boys. Meanwhile, I can not get a job at McDonald’s because of my criminal record. So if I do not play music, I sell dope. I am a criminal, and if I did not play music, I would probably be in jail or dead. “
He went on, ‘It’s hard, man. I have been involved with music since I was 15 years old, ”he says. ‘I’m a good father. I taught my daughter to cuss when the Cubs lose – she’s an Earle, so she’s going to be fine. I’m a good father, but I’m like a man. I am built for the road; I do not know what the hell to do at home. But do you know what? I never said I would be okay with any of that. No one can ever ask me to stop doing what I do. If you like to do what I do – like Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark – you love it. Everyone else around you needs to understand that. ”
When he tried out his latest album for Rolling Stone last year, critic Jonathan Bernstein wrote, “Earle has been an unrestricted principled artist from the beginning, stuck in his old-fashioned ways of what it means to be a songwriter.” the 21st century.The roots-revival Earle helped usher in earlier this decade with albums like 2010s Harlem River Blues is largely passed on to more outspoken traditionalists such as Jason Isbell, and yet, Earle remains, at last, more attached than ever to his own treasured lost causes: old-school folk tales, outdated pre-rock stylings, and the extreme centrality of making albums in the era of streaming. … The Saint of Lost Causes lives up to its title, and serves as a refreshing reminder of what the songwriter has always done best. “
In recent years, Earle had lived in Portland, after being satisfied with the growth and gentrification of Nashville. He told The Current in 2017 about growing up in the city, saying, ‘They want to call it Twelve South right now, but it was called Sevier Park-Sunnyside Neighborhood when I was a kid. It was a very racially mixed neighborhood, it was a very poor neighborhood, and now it houses millions of dollars and nothing but lily-white kids walking on those damn streets and it does not look good. It’s not the neighborhood I grew up in. … Nashville moved away with my house. Nashville really took a turn where it can be nowhere else, where they do not want people to just get out of the building and gut the building, they want to demolish that building completely, how old, how historic is it, who has it there living, whatever … It’s definitely not my house anymore, other than the fact that my mother is there. ”
Had a lot of good times and made a lot of good music with JTE. So sad for his family last night.
Justin Townes Earle always said that if we asked each other why we hurt, we could have more Billie Holiday records. And well, now we will not have JTE records anymore. And that hurts.
Speaking about the fame he shared with his father, Earle talks about reaching a balance in his attitude. “I really appreciate it (the connection),” he told The Boot. “There are a lot of sons and daughters who have nothing to do with their parents. Come over that s—. You think you would do What do you do without the influence of your mother or father? But even if it was difficult, no one will ever say I rode my father’s coat. My father can not write like me, he can not play guitar like I can. write like him, and I do not want to play guitar like him.I think we’ve done five shows together in 13 years since I started making records.We separated it from the beginning hard because he wanted me to would stand on my own. ”
