Justin Townes Earle (January 4, 1982 – August 20, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. After his debut EP, Yuma (2007), he released eight full-length albums. He was recognized with an Americana Music Award for Emerging Artist of the Year in 2009 and for Song of the Year in 2011 for "Harlem River Blues". His father is alternative country artist Steve Earle.
Early life
Earle grew up in South Nashville, Tennessee, with his mother, Carol Ann Hunter Earle. His father, Steve Earle, named him in honor of his own mentor, singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt.[2] When Justin was two, his father left the family, but after Steve Earle got sober in 1994 he returned.[3] Earle dropped out of school, occasionally touring with and working for his father, eventually moving to eastern Tennessee with other songwriters.[4] Like his father, he battled addiction beginning in his early teens.[5]
Career
Earle played in two Nashville bands: the rock band the Distributors and the ragtime and bluegrass combo the Swindlers.[6] He spent some time as guitarist and keyboardist for his father's touring band the Dukes.[6] He developed a hybrid style of music mixing folk, blues, and country.[6]
Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now was listed at album number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012, with the annotation as follows: "The son of country-rock renegade Steve Earle has grown into a songwriter to rival his dad."[17]
On January 4, 2021, Steve Earle & the Dukes released the album J.T., a tribute to Justin Townes Earle.
On January 4, 2023, a tribute concert was held at the Ryman Auditorium in memory of Justin. Performers included Steve Earle & The Dukes and special guests: Shooter Jennings, Bonnie Whitmore, Amanda Shires, Willy and Cody Braun, Buddy Miller, Ben Nichols (Lucero), Dustin Welch, Elizabeth Cook, Emmylou Harris, Jason Isbell, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Joe Pug, Jon Langford, Lilly Hiatt, Scotty Melton, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart.[18]
Personal life and death
Earle began using drugs at age 12 and continued for many years. In his words, "I discovered very fast that my way of doing things was going to get me in trouble, and I kept going with it, because I believed the myth for a long time, and I believed I had to destroy myself to make great art."[19]
He went to rehabilitation clinics nine times followed by periods of sobriety. He relapsed in September 2010 and again in 2017.[2][6][20][21]
Earle moved to New York City in 2009,[22][23] but returned to Nashville in 2014.[24] He married Jenn Marie Maynard in 2013[25] and he and his wife lived on the West Coast.[2] Their only child, a daughter named Etta, was born in June 2017.[26]
Earle died on August 20, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 38,[27] from an accidental overdose of fentanyl-laced cocaine.[28]