Father's footsteps are not being followed in
(I can't even stretch it to two and a half for the sake of nepotism; just not that good)
Artiste: Justin Townes Earle
Nationality: American
Album: Midnight at the movies
Year: 2009
Label: Bloodshot Records
Genre: Country
Tracks:
Midnight at the movies
What I mean to you
They killed John Henry
Mama's eyes
Dirty rag
Can't hardly wait
Black eyed Suzy
Poor fool
Halfway to Jackson
Someday I'll be forgiven for this
Walk out
Here we go again
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: "Nothing's gonna change the way you feel about me now"
Interesting factoid: As if you needed to be told, Justin is the son of country rocker Steve Earle
Initial impression: A lot more laidback and countryfied than I had expected.
Best track(s): Mama's eyes, Can't hardly wait, Halfway to Jackson, Someday I'll be forgiven for this
Worst track(s): Pretty much everything else really
Comments: I've already reviewed Justin's latest album in my main journal and was reasonably impressed by it. Mind you, my view of it was certainly coloured by the pedigree of the guy, as I'm a big Steve Earle fan. County itself, not so much, and this is definitely starting off more Country than rock, quite laidback and sort of a mixture of early seventies Eagles with a whiff of Waits' debut off it. Nice though, but hardly anything to get the blood pumping. Even less so is the next one, which mixes classic country sound with a kind of twenties vibe that does nothing for me. Not quite "Copperhead Road" now, is it?
There's a nice little bit of folky guitar pickin' on
They killed John Henry with some fun fiddle too, but it's pretty "square dance" material so far. Grab yer partner by the hand...
Mama's eyes tackles for the first time his troubled relationship with his famous father, where he croons "We don't see eye to eye/ He hurt my mother", and in ways it must surprise Justin that he's essentially following in his daddy's footsteps, having caught the music bug. He's certainly took another direction though, and were it not for the name I would not know he was Steve's son. Thirty seconds of rather cool guitar pickin' and we're into the first track that reminds me of his father.
Can't hardly wait is much more uptempo and while perhaps not quite rock, it comes the closest of the tracks so far to breaking out of the often stifling Country strictures.
Black eyed Suzy is pure bluegrass, tripping along at a fine lick with great fiddle work and that uptempo drumming Country does so well, upright bass ticking away, while
Poor fool sounds like something out of the fifties --- I
hate fifties music! Nice uptempo bopper in
Halfway to Jackson, with some very cool harmonica, then a slick little ballad in
Someday I'll be forgiven for this --- Country does ballads well, I have to admit --- and this is probably the first time I can really hear Steve's voice in Justin's. The closer is another ballad, and very close to his father's
My old friend the blues, so not a bad way to finish off what I have to say is a pretty third-rate album really. Some small highlights, but not enough.
Overall impression: He's certainly not crossing over into the bad side of town like his daddy. This is okay but pretty generic Country. Not really my thing.
Intention: It may be a while, if ever, before I pick up another of Justin's albums.