This post is from Out the Other's 2009 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.
Editor's note: This is a guest preview from contributor Lance Conzett, a Nashville-based photographer and music writer who also edits the Belmont Vision. Lance can be reached via his website, lanceconzett.com, or via email at conzettl@pop.belmont.edu.
The children of creative people have the odds stacked against them from the get go. No matter how hard they try, they’ll never fully escape the shadow of their famous parents—Dhani Harrison isn’t George Harrison, Jakob Dylan will never eclipse Bob Dylan, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s musical endeavors have a hell of a time stacking up next to Serge Gainsbourg, you get the picture. But that’s nothing. Justin Townes Earle has to contend with two legacies, his father (and legendary songwriter) Steve Earle and his namesake (and legendary songwriter) Townes Van Zandt, while still trying to find his own voice. It seemed like with last year’s The Good Life, Justin had decided that the best way to strike out on his own was to completely ape Johnny Cash’s man in black routine.
It wasn’t.
When a friend of mine first introduced me to his music a year ago, she told me about her first time seeing him—first at Grimey’s and later on that night at a regular music venue. For the main gig, he devised a persona decked out in black country-western wear and a cartoonish swagger to match. The whole thing seemed inauthentic compared to the Grimey’s show, where the artifice of his live image was disposed of entirely. I don’t think I need to tell you which one was better (it was the Grimey’s one). The man has talent, but it was weighted down with what he thought he should be rather than what he actually is. The biggest killer for Americana music is insincerity. You can be phony in pop music without a problem, but if you’re playing folk music and you’re not resonating with your audience, then you’re in trouble.
But that was 2008. In March, Justin Townes Earle put out Midnight at the Movies and is presenting himself as a completely different kind of artist. He’s still putting out charmingly folksy songs about being down and out, being in love, being out of love and other staples of country music songwriting, but with a style that grounds them in the roots of his predecessors. Instead of copying what has already been done, Justin has disposed of the clumsy pretense that plagued 2008's The Good Life and recorded an album that reflects how much more comfortable he is in his own shoes now.
As a side-note, even though it may be a cliche in folk circles at this point, the song about steel-driving folk hero John Henry ("They Killed John Henry") stands out among the rest. It's the kind of song I can see thousands of heat stroke victims waiting to happen singing at the top of their lungs, "They killed John Henry, they killed John Henry / They killed John Henry, but they won't kill me." Times are tough and we need a good populist anthem that isn't being sung by John Rich or Toby Keith.
After he was added to the Bonnaroo line-up, Justin Townes Earle was nominated for three Americana Music Association Honors and Awards, including for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. Seeing as how they only have six categories, that’s pretty respectable. If your goal at Bonnaroo is to see someone who will probably graduate to one of the tents (or even one of the main stages) from the dinky little café tents, Justin Townes Earle is your best bet.
"They Killed John Henry"
"Poor Fool"
Justin Townes Earle will perform twice during Bonnaroo: on the Solar Stage on Friday, June 12 from 6:30-7:30 p.m.; and in the Troo Music Lounge on Friday, June 12 from 10:00-11:00 p.m. Check out the full Bonnaroo schedule on the official Bonnaroo website.
