Live Review

Justin Townes Earle – Oran Mor, Glasgow

• 23rd Jan 2011

Justin Townes Earle played an excellent solo acoustic show last night to a sell out crowd who appreciated both his music and his humorous, often self deprecating, introductions.

Support came from The Staves, a trio of sisters from London. Their stripped down folk sound features some lovely harmonies, but there is little variety in their music and one sweet song pretty much merged into another.

Justin Townes Earle strode onto a stark and dimly lit stage featuring just a mic and a chair holding his refreshments – water and Red Bull. He picked up his guitar and began to play with confidence and the world weary demeanour of a much older man.

The set started with Move Over Mama from Earle’s excellent album Harlem River Blues, and he followed this up with a fine version of They Killed John Henry, which was dedicated to his grandfather.

Earle has an easy manner on stage and his early chat was very much family centred. He talked of the early impact of his mother, calling Mama’s Eyes an attempt to set the record straight. But his father’s influence is also strong, and the son of Steve Earle has clearly inherited both musical talent and a wandering spirit

Although he is now New York based, Earle was born and raised in Nashville and the country side of his music is clear to see, especially in the bluegrass style fingerpicking guitar. But he has taken from folk and rock too, most noticeably in the wistful vocals of the beautiful Christchurch Woman.

Earle spoke frankly of his wild side, detailing the difficulty of giving up cocaine. He also spoke of a period in rehab after being arrested in Indianapolis, which had forced the postponement of this tour. Slippin’ and Slidin’ is a very personal tale, sung in an emotional fashion, showing that Earle has the ability to channel his darker side into his song writing.

And Earle is always writing. He is already working on tracks for the next album, and played Won’t Be The Last Time, a ballad of regret that demonstrates the self awareness to realise that patterns of behaviour are very difficult to break.

Earle’s voice was strong and true all night, his guitar playing fast and powerful. The set was closed by a fine singalong version of Harlem River Blues, which sounds remarkably upbeat for a song about suicide.

There simply had to be an encore and Earle closed the night with two covers. A beautifully tender, country tinged version of the Springsteen classic Racing In The Street was followed by a fast paced take on The Replacement’s I Can’t Hardly Wait.

Justin Townes Earle has many more stories to tell. For a man who has not yet reached 30 he has crammed a great deal of wild living into a short time. And if he can continue to use the experiences as material, he ought to reap the rewards that his talents so richly deserve.