JUSTIN Townes Earle may have famous rock country singer Steve Earle for a father but he can sure hold his end up.
And the stage, for hours, when he performs. Last time Earle hit Wellington, almost two years ago, he captivated a crammed Bodega crowd with his brand of honest folk, some impressive guitar lines, strong southern vocals and a lot of tattoos.
The lean “nearly-30” gospel singer is from Nashville but he now lives in Manhattan. It’s a long way from his early days as a songwriter playing in “shitty pubs” and hitting the road like his hero Woody Guthrie once did. Now when he travels, he stays in “nice hotels”.
“I’m pretty comfortable by myself onstage,” he says. “I found a way through after doing lots of opening gigs. I had to grab the audience’s attention fast so I carried that strategy over to when I was headlining,” he says.
Earle’s set is flexible with only the first and last handful of songs planned. In between, he plays mostly new material letting the crowd direct him.
“I don’t do requests,” he says adamantly. “I spent too much time playing in shitty bars with requests, so no requests.”
Earle’s new, third record Harlem River Blues is an investigation into the world of Gospel.
“I listened to a lot of music like the Staple Singers and The Carter Family,’ he says. “But I knew a lot of stuff by heart. All American pop music began in the church – big boisterous songs. I’m working with the roots of music.”
“I’m always writing and I write towards goals so in a way this is a concept album.’
Recently, Earle has been listening to other songwriters such as Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst.
“I’ve been inducted into the world of ‘songwriter’ so it automatically excludes me from the pop world. I think those pop stars secretly don’t like me ‘cos I can kick their ass.
“My past records were deciding what it was I wanted to do but this twangy r ‘n’ b sound I’m gonna keep. I’ve finally found my voice in that.”
Justin Townes Earle, Bar Bodega, March 25.