Album of the Day — August 25
Justin Townes Earle — Harlem River Blues
Justin Townes Earle — Harlem River Blues
25.August.2020
Justin Townes Earle
Harlem River Blues
2009
Justin Townes Earl passed away on August 23. I wish his family, friends, and colleagues the best during this time.
Being the son of a well-known musician is a big cross to bear.
When you’re the son of one of the most gifted songwriters and outlaw singers in music, Steve Earle, that’s gotta be tough.
And you’re named after one of the other most gifted songwriters in the Country/Folk/Americana/Alt-Country genre (or WTF you wanna call it), Townes Van Zandt. That’s gonna add an extra layer of difficulty, and heighten expectations, if you choose music as a career.
But your calling is your calling. And music was indeed Justin Townes Earl’s. Fortunately, he didn’t have to rely on his pedigree. The man was very gifted — so gifted that he was able to carve out space of his own despite his heritage, and that ain’t easy.
Justin Townes Earle was the real deal.
Earle grew up in Nashville, and after dropping out of school, Earle began the musician journeyman’s life. He played in a ragtime band called The Swindlers and then in a country-punk band called The Distributors. Eventually, he worked his way up to a gig working for his old man’s backing band the Dukes …before being kicked out for drug use.
Besides a gift for songwriting and singing, addiction was another thing that the younger Earle had in common with his dad. Steve Earle has been clean and sober in 1994 and even played a drug counselor on HBO’s The Wire.
By 2007, Justin Townes Earle had released an EP titled Yuma, which led to a record deal with the mecca of labels for young Alt-Country artists, Chicago’s Bloodshot Records.
His first full-length album, The Good Life, was released in 2008 to strong reviews. The next year came, Midnight at the Movies, which was received just as favorably — and even includes a great cover of The Replacements “Can’t Hardly Wait.”
Released in 2010, Harlem City Blues was immediately recognized as a classic. By then, the Tennessee native had picked up stakes and settled in Brooklyn, New York. By then, the genre was firmly established.
What set Earle out from the other Alt-Country folks in Brooklyn (and there were many) and elsewhere was three things:
Earle had the skills
Earle knew what he was talking about
Earle had big balls
All three were in full force on Harlem City Blues. It also helped that he was probably one of the few people in Brooklyn who knew what the hollow (sometimes pronounced holler) was. And even fewer who had the talent — and chutzpah — to write and sing about it.
Living in one of the world’s most crowded cities and singing about a tiny town …Alanis Morrisette be damned, but that’s irony.
The stories he sings of on Harlem City Blues speak to the actual size of New York City. Yes, it’s densely populated, but at the same time, it can be just as small and intimate as life is in the Appalachian hollow.
And keeping the tradition of the musical genre and literary tradition about the hollow, many of the songs are dark.
The title track “Harlem City Blues” is a little bit Petty, a little bit Springsteen, a fair amount of Guthrie, and a big chunk of Townes Van Zandt. What sounds like it’s going to be a happy little rocker immediately goes rogue. The title track is about suicide. I can almost picture an old-timey, sepia-toned cartoon of a guy walking up Lexington Avenue singing this:
Harlem River Blues
Lord, I’m goin’ uptown to the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over and I’m not gonna make a sound
I’m on a roll, mama, I gotta go, gotta get there while I still can
Troubled days are behind me now and I know they’re gonna let me in
When you see me walkin’ up the FDR, just a-singin’ and a-clappin’ my hands
Tell my mama I love her, tell my father I tried, give my money to my baby to spend
’Cause Lord, I’m goin’ uptown to the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over and I’m not gonna make a sound
Good times come and they go, even a good man’ll break
He’ll let his troubles bury him whole even though he knows what’s at stake
So I’m taking no chances, carrying over while I’m still good in His grace
Sayin’ I’m no fool, mama, I know the difference between tempting and choosing my fate
So Lord, I’m goin’ uptown to the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over and I’m not gonna make a sound
Lord, I’m goin’ uptown to the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over and I’m not gonna make a sound
Lord, I’m goin’ uptown to the Harlem River to drown
Dirty water gonna cover me over and I’m not gonna make a sound
Earle’s throaty singing style is more in line with his namesake than it is his father.
“Move Over Mama” is a stoned-out little rock-a-billy tune that wouldn’t be out of place on any Stray Cats album.
It takes real creative talent, and fortitude, for a southern transplant to tackle a song called “Workin’ for the MTA.” To do it so skillfully that it makes you think, and sound like, the MTA could be the Mountain Tree Authority takes a unique stroke of genius. To listen to “Workin’ for the MTA” you almost wouldn’t know it’s a song about the transportation lifeline of New York City, The Metropolitan Transit Authority.
It could also be an allegory about his father:
I’m the son of a railroad man
I’m the son of a railroad man, born and raised back in south Louisian’
This ain’t my daddy’s train
This ain’t my daddy’s train, mama, I ain’t seen the sun in days
I suspect it’s both a nod to his father and a nod to the MTA:
I run a six-line train
I run a six-line train clear from Brooklyn Bridge to Pelham Bay
Earle’s skill was making a song about that urban transportation line and making it sound both original and inspired.
Harlem River Blues was one of Earle’s most successful albums charting in the top ten for Billboard’s indie and folk albums and finding homes on the Billboard Top 200 and Rock Album charts.
The title track “Harlem City Blues” would even go on to win the 2011 Americana Music Award for Song of the Year.
CRITICS:
Jonathan Keefe, in Slant Magazine, said: “Harlem River Blues, looks to acoustic blues as its main aesthetic. Given Earle’s often morose and sardonic bent as a lyricist, the shift toward blues suits him well, making for his strongest album to date.”
Steve Horowitz in PopMatters had this to say: “Earle brings the realization that we all live in the same interconnected world and share matching roots as Americans no matter where we are from. That he does this so eloquently and with such zest; well, that’s just like putting red eye gravy on a New York strip steak — mighty tasty!”
There’s not much more to say. Harlem River Blues proved Justin Townes Earle was his own man and artist.
The world lost a unique talent Sunday night. Rest in peace, Justin. Thank you for sharing your music and artistry with us — you will be missed.
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