Justin Townes Earle

Raised on the nation’s richest popular music traditions, Justin Townes Earle masterfully mixed blues, folk, country, and R&B influences into a moving, lived-in Americana. Born in Nashville in 1982 to country artist Steve Earle, Justin was named in part for revered folk singer Townes Van Zandt. Despite the big shoes to fill, the younger Earle carved out a sound of his very own, embracing the blues and the swing of old-school R&B more than his father ever did. His lean 2008 full-length debut, The Good Life, established him as a deeply talented writer with songs like the haunting “Lone Pine Hill,” and 2010’s Harlem River Blues found his sound fully fleshed-out and downright boogie-ready with the gospel-inflected title track. In 2019, he released The Saint of Lost Causes, a topical album that dove into the dark sides of the American dream with ragged, desperate blues (“Ain’t Got No Money”) and somber country (“Frightened by the Sound”). It would prove his last; after years of batting substances, Earle died from an accidental overdose in 2020, leaving behind a rich and stirring body of work.