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Townes

Steve Earle

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iTunes Review

Townes Van Zandt was not only Steve Earle’s artistic inspiration but a personal friend and mentor. No wonder then that his long-awaited tribute is Earle’s most inviting and sweet-natured album in years. Townes captures the timelessness and gentle charm of Van Zandt’s best songs, but it also works as a retrospective of Earle’s career. “Lungs” adopts the cacophonous, postmodern rock ’n’ roll of The Revolution Starts Now, while the unadorned folk of “Colorado Girl,” “Rake,” and “Marie” returns Earle to his autobiographical breakthrough, Train a Comin’. Best of all, about half of Townes revisits Earle’s unique brand of rollicking bluegrass, not heard since 2000’s The Mountain. “White Freightliner Blues,” “Delta Momma Blues”, and “Don’t Take It Too Bad” are reinvigorated without being renovated; Van Zandt would surely have approved. There's a wealth of sensitivity and sweetness to these performances, and even the loping blues of “Brand New Companion” is fired by Earle’s deeply felt affection towards his departed friend. Rootsy but not overly reverent, Townes is the first truly great homage to Texas’s immortal songster.

Customer Reviews

Morose, slovenly and bland, with violins

Steve Earle is a little too caught up in his own mythology for my tastes. Sure, Townes tracks are the deepest songs in the legacy of Americana music and, Mr. Earle is the coolest anti-establishment musical “artiste” to ever trade Nashville for the East Village. But just because Townes was a questionable "mentor" for the young drugged-out Earle doesn't mean Steve has any merit based legitimacy in covering these songs. If you want worthy TVZ covers try Lyle's take on Lungs, Prine's version of Loretta, Griffith's coverage of Tecumseh Valley, Gilmore’s White Freightliner... Better yet, there are enough original recordings of Townes singing his own songs to last a hundred years. Earle is respected and respectable as an artist. He has earned his place to be sure. But his morose, slovenly and mildly arrogant persona would only be palatable on a TVZ cover set if he also crafted any new tunes as interesting and original as, well, as Townes Van Zandt did. (If Steve had written a few stories about his history of apparent derision and disrespectful treatment at the hands of Van Zandt THAT would be some original and noteworthy art.) This offering however, is mildly embarrassing to sit through. No one in the Americana music society circles (many of whom panned the deliciously original Transcendental Blues) will have the stones to criticize either Mr. Earle or the TVZ songs he is claiming a connective ownership of here, nonetheless, this is one of the worst showings for both.

Hmm... O.k.

There is a nice, thought out review against this album on this page that says everything that I would. The only difference is that I wouldn't be as harsh. If Earle was putting this out on a small indie label or out of his garage, people would automatically see it as a labor of love and embrace it. Not that New West is huge, but... As it is, this album and it's tone feels like this is Earle's attempt to single-handedly save the Townes music history from those who would dilude it with inferior covers, tribute albums, compilations, live albums, or albums of cast-off songs promoted as genius lost gems. That's a little much, and it takes effort to shake that feeling. I think this album is fine. It might be a little pretentious, but it does entertain and it is worth a listen. Mr. Mudd is the best of the bunch.

Excellent collection

Townes was a brilliant songwriter who had a tendency to let his producers go a little too far in the studio. Here, Steve has made many of these songs accessible to a wider audience for the first time. This album is incredible, particulary the complex, dense Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold, performed with Steve's son, Justin Townes Earle.

Biography

Born: January 17, 1955 in Fort Monroe, VA

Genre: Country

Years Active: '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

In the strictest sense, Steve Earle isn't a country artist; he's a roots rocker. Earle emerged in the mid-'80s, after Bruce Springsteen had popularized populist rock & roll and Dwight Yoakam had kick-started the neo-traditionalist movement in country music. At first, Earle appeared to be more indebted to the rock side than country, as he played a stripped-down, neo-rockabilly style that occasionally verged on outlaw country. However, his unwillingness to conform to the rules of Nashville or rock...
Full Bio

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