Justin Townes Earle (upstairs)

Fitzgerald's presents Justin Townes Earle, with Adam Bricks.

The son of maverick Texas songwriter Steve Earle (and carrying the middle name of his dad's mentor, Townes Van Zandt), Justin Townes Earle shares just a hint of his father's vocal style in his voice, and like the elder Earle, he writes his own songs, but aside from the fact that both Earles fall to the country side of the Mason-Dixon Line, there are probably far more differences in their musical approaches than there are similarities.

The younger Earle grew up in Nashville and took up music early, playing in the bluegrass/ragtime combo the Swindlers and the hard-rocking Distributors; he also toured (playing guitar and keyboards) with his father's road band the Dukes. He counts such diverse artists as Jimmy Reed, Kurt Cobain, The Replacements, Mance Lipscomb, Ray Charles, and The Pogues as inspirations.

Developing his own writing and playing style, an American roots music hybrid mixing folk and blues with strong early country leanings, Earle self-released the six-song EP Yuma in 2007. The release attracted the attention of Chicago's Bloodshot Records, who signed Earle and put out a full-length project, The Good Life, in 2008. He followed it with Midnight Movies in 2009 and Harlem River Blues in 2010. Earle toured extensively behind this last album and won nearly universal critical acclaim. He followed it up with Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, in the spring of 2012.

"Justin Townes Earle is living proof that despite the freak show that is modern day Nashville, there are still artists out there who revere the deep roots of the American musical tradition while still pushing the boundaries to create something new and wonderful." — PopMatters.com