This has just been released: Justin Townes Earle has decided to suspend his autumn tour dates in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland, and enter a rehabilitation facility. Earle is strongly committed to confronting his on-going struggle with addiction and thanks his family, friends and fans for their continued support through this difficult time.
Earle looks forward to resuming the tour in support of his critically acclaimed third album, ‘Harlem River Blues’ on Bloodshot Records. The album debuts this week at #47 on the Top 200 in overall U.S. Soundscan sales, with first week U.S. sales nearing 9,000 albums sold.
‘HARLEM RIVER BLUES’ SUSPENDED TOUR DATES
September 23 Cincinnati, OH US Midpoint Music Festival
September 24 Columbus, OH US The Rumba Café
September 25 Berryville, VA US Watermelon Park Festival
September 29 San Diego, CA US Casbah
September 30 Los Angeles, CA US Autry Museum
October 1 Santa Cruz, CA US Rio Theatre
October 2 San Francisco, CA US Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
October 4 Humboldt, CA US The Depot at Humboldt State
October 6 Salt Lake City, UT US The State Room
October 7 Denver, CO US The Bluebird
October 8 Omaha, NE US Slowdown Jr.
October 9 Minneapolis, MN US First Avenue
October 11 Milwaukee, WI US Turner Hall
October 12 Bloomington, IL US Six Strings
October 14 Detroit, MI US Magic Stick
October 15 Toronto, ON CANADA Horseshoe Tavern
October 19 New York, NY US Webster Hall
October 20 Boston, MA US Royale
October 21 Portsmouth, NH US The Music Hall
October 22 Philadelphia, PA US The First Unitarian Church
October 23 Washington, DC US 9:30 Club
November 1 Nottingham UK The Maze
November 2 Bristol UK St. Bonaventure’s
November 3 Brighton UK Komedia
November 6 Liverpool UK The Stanley Theatre
November 7 London UK Union Chapel
November 8 Sheffield UK The Polish Club
November 10 Newcastle UK The Cluny
November 11 Edinburgh SCOTLAND The Pleasance
November 12 Belfast IRELAND The Errigle Inn
November14 Dublin IRELAND Whelans
JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE
Album: Harlem River Blues
Released: 20th September 2010
Label: Bloodshot Records
“He’s fully absorbed his genetic and cultural heritage and draws upon both with great skill and dimension … an utterly distinctive voice that takes what’s come before and artfully moves it forward with the power of a certain steel-driving man.” LA Times
Justin Townes Earle is an anomaly. He’s tall as the day is long, all angles and elbows and a hard stare, both welcoming and deadly serious. He’s Nashville North, all set up in lower Manhattan now, just like his hero Woody Guthrie, with twang and charm intact.
That hard working earnestness has paid off, to say the least. Justin won the Best New and Emerging Artist at the 2009 Americana Music Awards. His record, Midnight at the Movies, was named one of the best records of last year by Amazon, received four stars in Rolling Stone and found a sweet spot in the blackened hearts of fans and critics alike. GQ Magazine named him one of the 25 best dressed men in the world in 2010. He also appeared on HBO’s Treme with his dad, troubadour Steve Earle, on whose Grammy Award- winning Townes record Justin also guests.
The aforementioned Woody Guthrie once said, “Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.” On Harlem River Blues, Justin chose the simple route. The record’s not a wall of sound produced to the rafters. It’s rockin’ and reelin’ at times, sweet and slow at others—and it’s great. Like good fried chicken, a well-cut suit and a handmade guitar, there’s heaven to be found in the beautifully crafted simpler things. Compared to the much-lauded Midnight at the Movies, Harlem River Blues is more mature and increasingly nuanced, while still embracing the raw voice and clean sound of previous standout tracks like “Mama’s
Eyes.” Harlem River Blues kicks off hot with the title track’s choir of backing singers and electric guitar, slow dances through a decrepit tenement on “One More Night in Brooklyn,” and swings à la Jerry Lee Lewis on “Move Over Mama.” “Working for the MTA” is a modern day railway ballad, embracing the labor movement in classic folk singer style over some heartbreaking pedal steel from Calexico’s Paul Niehaus. With percussive guitar, killer standup bass lines by Bryn Davies and a guest appearance from Jason Isbell, this record hums along like a 6 train jumpin’ the tracks and heading straight for the Tennessee state line.
Harlem River Blues straddles not only the Mason- Dixon, but time itself. As versed in Mance Lipscomb as he is in M. Ward and sporting Marc Jacobs suspenders, Justin Townes Earle is a man beyond eras. With Harlem River Blues, a record that’s perfect for late Indian summer nights on either the front porch or fire escape, Justin’s found yet another way to be a timeless original.
The Justin Townes Earle Players:
Justin Townes Earle, guitar, vox
Skylar Wilson, organ
Bryn Davies, upright bass, cello, vox
Jason Isbell, electric guitar
Bryan Owings, drums/percussion
Josh Hedley, fiddles, violin, vox
Paul Niehaus, steel guitar
Phil Lassiter, trumpet
Jeff Coffin, saxophone
Ketch Secor, harmonica
Praise for Justin Townes Earle:
WINNER: 2009 Americana Music Awards: Best New and Emerging Artist
NOMINATED: 2009 Americana Music Awards: Best Artist & Best Album
Featured in: MAGNET’S BEST OF 2009: AMERICANA Mor year-end accolades: Named Amazon’s #8 Best Country
album of 2009! And “Walk Out” one of 100 Best Songs!
“A gifted performer in his own right.” —NY Times
“Earle has emerged a fully realized artist, with more than a decade’s worth of songs and stories; a rising star who defines himself and his art as Southern American rather than Americana, though the genre has embraced him.” —Pollstar
“Boasting the kind of voice most often found on dust- covered 78s, Earle is undeniably the real thing. His music feels old-fashioned, but in a timeless, not anachronistic, way.” —Tiny Mix Tapes
“Earle sings like a honky-tonk hero and thinks like a 21st century man. He’s sharp and young, and has soul to burn—a traditionalist that is not afraid to play ragtime and cover the Replacements punk anthem ‘Can’t Hardly Wait.’” —Guitar Aficionado
Has made appearances on: HBO’s Treme, A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, NPR’s Morning Edition, World Café, and The Grand Ole Opry.
Named one of GQ’s most fashionable men of 2010, along with Lebron James, David Beckham, Jay-Z and others.
“#19 (of 50 songs Every Man Should Be Listening To) – ‘Mama’s Eyes’ … Because this is what it is to be somebody’s son. Anybody’s son. Score one for Steve Earle’s kid: It took Dad much longer to write anything this universally significant.” —Esquire