One from the heart
The great Texan troubadour’s heartfelt tribute to his son. By Sylvie Simmons.
Steve Earle
★★★★ J.T.
NEW WEST. CD/DL/LP
IN AUGUST last year, Steve Earle posted a photo of himself and his firstborn son on Twitter. In the picture Steve is seated and his adult son lies shirtless in his lap. A lot like the Pietà – except the two of them are laughing. Earle’s tweet read simply: “Justin Townes Earle 1982-2020”. J.T., as Steve called him, died that month of an accidental overdose, aged 38. will be released on what would have been its namesake’s 39th birthday.
J.T. left behind a respectable Americana catalogue of one EP and eight full albums, and 10 of these 11 tracks are covers of his songs. It’s not the first time Earle’s recorded a tribute album to someone he loved – in 2009 there was (Van Zandt, whom J.T. was named for) and in 2019
(Clark, Earle’s other mentor). But it’s hard to imagine an undertaking more harrowing than recording a tribute to a dead son. Even Earle’s linernotes are heartwrenching, opening with a description of J.T.’s birth and the nurse placing the baby in his father’s arms.
“I don’t know how I ever negotiated the walk down the hall without tripping over my own two feet,” he writes. “I couldn’t take my eyes off him and he looked right back at me, hardly blinking, as if to say, ‘I know you.’ After a bit of a gentle tug-of-war at the nursery door I reluctantly relinquished custody to the nurse. My arms had never felt so empty… For better or worse, right or wrong, I loved Justin Townes Earle more than anything else on Earth. That being said, I made this record, like every other record I’ve ever made, for me. It was the only way I knew to say goodbye.”
But not, for the most part, a mournful goodbye. It’s too celebratory for that. More of a wake than a dirge. Having the Dukes accompany him rather than going it alone was a smart idea, bringing a back-porch warmth to I Don’t Care and Ain’t Glad I’m Leaving, and a lively energy to rousing barroom countryblues Champagne Corolla and old-style country They Killed John Henry. There are a few dark numbers (Lone Pine Hill; The Saint Of Lost Causes) but even in the warmer songs there are lyrics about love, death and leaving that can cause goose-pimples. Like slow, lovely Far Away In Another Town: “Next time you come looking I won’t be around.” Or upbeat Harlem River Blues – the album’s highlight – “Tell my mama I love her, tell my father I tried/Give my money to my baby to spend/’Cos I’m going uptown to the Harlem River to drown.”
Though some albums were bypassed, the selections are pretty comprehensive, from J.T.’s first EP in 2007 to his last album The Saint Of Lost Causes in 2020. There are four songs from The Good Life and one each from Midnight At The Movies, Kids In The Street and Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now.
But Earle saves the closing song for himself. “I was there when you were born, took you from your mama’s arms,” he sings in Last Words “I wish I could have held you when you left this world.” It’s an honest, heartfelt ending to a truly fine album.
All proceeds from sales will go into a trust for J.T.’s three-year-old daughter.