Townes [Digipak]

Performer: Steve Earle
Engineer: Ray Kennedy; Steve Christensen; Andrew Clark
Producer: Steve Earle
Distributor: RED Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Steve Earle (vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, harmonium, percussion); Justin Townes Earle (vocals, guitar); Allison Moorer (vocals); Tom Morello (electric guitar); Darrell Scott (dobro, banjo); Tim O'Brien (mandolin); Shad Cobb (fiddle); John Spiker (electric bass); Dennis Crouch (bass guitar); Greg Morrow (drums); Steve Christensen (percussion). Audio Mixers: John King; Ray Kennedy. Recording information: Nashville TNN. With the appropriately titled TOWNES, Steve Earle pays tribute to his mentor, the late singer/songwriter legend Townes Van Zandt. Like Earle, Van Zandt was a Texan who made his way to Nashville even though his music didn't fit the mainstream country mold. Earle, who learned a lot from Van Zandt, honors his hero's mix of country, folk, and poetic lyricism with an affectionate trip through the Van Zandt songbook. Whether he's tackling a dark, moody tune like "Marie," a post-Dylan flight of lyrical fancy like "Lungs," or a trad-tinged country song like "White Freightliner Blues," Earle brings just the right mix of reverence and renegade fire to the table.

Rolling Stone (p.72) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Earles knows these songs intimately -- some of the greatest in the folk-country canon -- and delivers them with the ease of breathing, mostly unadorned." Spin (p.86) - "[H]e does his idol justice on this vibrant covers set, delivering supersonic bluegrass and starry-eyed ballads with the same thoughtful finesse." Entertainment Weekly (p.59) - "On his latest album, Steve Earle, who remains Van Zandt's foremost disciple, gives 15 favorites the kind of carefully considered settings they deserve..." Billboard (p.34) - "Throughout, Earle's shape-shifting voice inhabits the songs just like Van Zandt's own colorful characters inhabit them..." Q (Magazine) (p.132) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] dream album, full of devotion, care and spirit as he gently caresses new nuances out of even the much-covered and revered 'Pancho & Lefty,' and adds sinister new layers to 'Marie'..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.82) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "This is an album of subtlety and reserve, which allows the original emotional intent of the music to speak for itself."

Steve Earle did for country in the 1980s what Waylon Jennings did for it in the '70s--released it from the shackles of commerciality and overproduction by introducing a bad-ass, rock-friendly outlaw aesthetic. Besides his talents as a singer/songwriter, Earle is a producer/entrepreneur who's worked with many other artists (some on his own label) and helped foster a new wave of progressive country. He's also a dedicated political activist who's done much for a variety of progressive causes.

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