Justin Townes Earle

Z · **Joined:** Sat Oct 23, 2004 1:38 pm **Posts:** 7979

billy g Wrote:

Senator LooGAR Wrote:

Z Wrote:

the first time i saw him he was just kinda a bit drunk and sloppy, but it wasn't any worse than like lucero or the hold steady. that was around midnight at the movies before it was newsworthy that he wasn't doing so well. and then the last time i saw him (about a year ago), he talked about his sobriety after almost every song, so i figured he was clean because he actually did seem very sorry for what'd happened.

I think this is what I was half-remembering.

Naw, I think you guys are "misremembering" it. I saw him 7-8 times across tours for the first two albums including a couple of times that Harlem River Blues had already been recorded but not released. Never any signs of problems. Then sometime during the Harlem River Blues album, he was playing a show in which someone in the crowd heckled him and he got in a shouting match back and ended the show abruptly and then got in a fistfight with the club owner or manager or something like that. A few days later it was announced that the rest of the tour was cancelled and that he was going into rehab.

i'm not misremembering anything. i'm pretty sure you weren't at any of the shows when i saw him.

Radcliffe · **Posted:** Mon May 14, 2012 3:55 pm

billy g Wrote:

Bullshit. You just have zero tolerance for country which is what the first two were.

Country is a genre only appreciated by rednecks and pedophiles, so you may be on to something there.

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

Z Wrote:

billy g Wrote:

Senator LooGAR Wrote:

Z Wrote:

the first time i saw him he was just kinda a bit drunk and sloppy, but it wasn't any worse than like lucero or the hold steady. that was around midnight at the movies before it was newsworthy that he wasn't doing so well. and then the last time i saw him (about a year ago), he talked about his sobriety after almost every song, so i figured he was clean because he actually did seem very sorry for what'd happened.

I think this is what I was half-remembering.

Naw, I think you guys are "misremembering" it. I saw him 7-8 times across tours for the first two albums including a couple of times that Harlem River Blues had already been recorded but not released. Never any signs of problems. Then sometime during the Harlem River Blues album, he was playing a show in which someone in the crowd heckled him and he got in a shouting match back and ended the show abruptly and then got in a fistfight with the club owner or manager or something like that. A few days later it was announced that the rest of the tour was cancelled and that he was going into rehab.

i'm not misremembering anything. i'm pretty sure you weren't at any of the shows when i saw him.

Fair enough. The mis-remember remark was directed at Loogar. I didn't mean to suggest that you weren't remembering your concert experience so that was lazily phrased on my part and certainly harsher than I intended toward Loogar even. However, I'll stand by the fact that his problem period that was widely reported was worse than "a bit drunk and sloppy" and didn't occur during the midnight at the movies tour.

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Mon May 14, 2012 6:11 pm

billy g Wrote:

You just have zero tolerance for country which is what the first two were.

No they weren't.

His new record is not only his best, but the best thing out this year (so far) in my opinion. But I think he's got a pretty solid catalog overall. Couldn't really care less about his sobriety or lack thereof.

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

Yail Bloor Wrote:

billy g Wrote:

You just have zero tolerance for country which is what the first two were.

No they weren't.

His new record is not only his best, but the best thing out this year (so far) in my opinion. But I think he's got a pretty solid catalog overall. Couldn't really care less about his sobriety or lack thereof.

Well, whatever you want to label them (and I'll admit that they're filed in the rock section of my collection) there are STRONG old timey country influences on the first two and whatever remarks Radcliffe makes about superior songwriting, growth as an artist, soulfulness, etc, my brain translates to the last two are much less country and thus Radcliffe is much more open to them. Nothing wrong with that but I just don't buy that they are a great leap forward or more soulful. In fact, Harlem River Blues sounds really flat to me where the debut really had a lot of swing to it.

I really tried with Harlem River Blues but it never grew on me and I've got a pretty high tolerance for what most people would call boring singer/songwriter types. I've only given the new one 3 listens but I'm not sure that it's going to get a fourth as I'd rate it well below Meh based on the first three listens.

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Mon May 14, 2012 7:17 pm

billy g Wrote:

Yail Bloor Wrote:

billy g Wrote:

You just have zero tolerance for country which is what the first two were.

No they weren't.

His new record is not only his best, but the best thing out this year (so far) in my opinion. But I think he's got a pretty solid catalog overall. Couldn't really care less about his sobriety or lack thereof.

Well, whatever you want to label them (and I'll admit that they're filed in the rock section of my collection) there are STRONG old timey country influences on the first two and whatever remarks Radcliffe makes about superior songwriting, growth as an artist, soulfulness, etc, my brain translates to the last two are much less country and thus Radcliffe is much more open to them. Nothing wrong with that but I just don't buy that they are a great leap forward or more soulful. In fact, Harlem River Blues sounds really flat to me where the debut really had a lot of swing to it.

I really tried with Harlem River Blues but it never grew on me and I've got a pretty high tolerance for what most people would call boring singer/songwriter types. I've only given the new one 3 listens but I'm not sure that it's going to get a fourth as I'd rate it well below Meh based on the first three listens.

Well, at least you admit you were wrong saying the first two were country. Sure, they've got the old timey country influence (and I've got a couple bootlegs from that era where his act was VERY old timey country--since you saw him a bunch during that time probably colors the way you hear those records. Nothing wrong with that.), but there is a lot more going on in a song like "South Georgia Sugar Babe" than country.

I openly disliked Harlem River Blues when it came out to the point that i deleted it, then had a sort of epiphany with and decided that it's pretty damn good. I'm not gonna tell you what to listen to, but I think the new one is worth your attention. It's fucking infectious haha.

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

I had to laugh and admire your style as I didn't realize I had really admitted I was wrong as much as tried to avoid getting into a debate about the genre label itself which isn't that important to the overall point that those albums have a lot of country in them where the last two (and Yuma for that matter) don't. I'm sure you're right though that those early shows influence how I approach those albums as they were mostly just JTE and a friend on guitar and banjo or fiddle.

Senator LooGAR · **Posted:** Mon May 14, 2012 8:17 pm

Harlem River Blues was my #1 for 2010. I like the new one, but not as much as Harlem River Blues.

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Mon May 14, 2012 8:26 pm

billy g Wrote:

I had to laugh and admire your style as I didn't realize I had really admitted I was wrong as much as tried to avoid getting into a debate about the genre label itself which isn't that important to the overall point that those albums have a lot of country in them where the last two (and Yuma for that matter) don't. I'm sure you're right though that those early shows influence how I approach those albums as they were mostly just JTE and a friend on guitar and banjo or fiddle.

I'm a better salesman than I used to be.

rogneeb · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:07 pm **Posts:** 12618

Harlem River Blues is my favorite of his. This new one is also pretty good. I enjoyed his first two at the time they came out, but almost never put them on anymore. I think he's really grown and gotten better as his career has gone on.

Also, although there are touches of country sprinkled throughout his stuff, I wouldn't really consider him much of a country artist. Folk, country, rock, even some jazzy and gospel bits sprinkled around...traditional American sounds.

jewels santana · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:36 pm **Posts:** 10198

I saw him live last summer and it was very blue grassy, but the albums I've heard are more a little dash of a lot of things.

Rick Derris · **Posted:** Thu May 24, 2012 8:43 pm

He's playing an upscale venue in the burbs tomorrow night but I'm having a hard time justifying the 40 minute commute (door to door) and crazy price.

They're trying to lure hipper acts up there but $38.50 seems outrageous. Normal club prices seem to be running around $20 in other cities.

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Thu May 24, 2012 9:02 pm

Rick Derris Wrote:

He's playing an upscale venue in the burbs tomorrow night but I'm having a hard time justifying the 40 minute commute (door to door) and crazy price.

They're trying to lure hipper acts up there but $38.50 seems outrageous. Normal club prices seem to be running around $20 in other cities.

I wish it was the amphitheater down here. We could whoop.

Rick Derris · **Posted:** Thu May 24, 2012 9:43 pm

But DUDE, GET YOUR ROCK ON Tour with Bret Michaels!

MontyTheMongoose · **Posted:** Fri May 25, 2012 10:03 am

Rick Derris Wrote:

But DUDE, GET YOUR ROCK ON Tour with Bret Michaels!

Me So Thorny.

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Fri May 25, 2012 10:21 pm

Rick Derris Wrote:

But DUDE, GET YOUR ROCK ON Tour with Bret Michaels!

I think my chick is going to that.

discostu · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2012 1:02 pm

link below to video and All Songs Considered feature about the Wanda/JTE duet "Am I Even a Memory?" written by Greg Garing

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/ ... n-a-memory

Justin Townes Earle

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