Steve Earle has had his troubles in life, particularly where drink and drugs are concerned. In 1994 he served 60 days in jail for heroin and cocaine possession. He’s had his demons and his addictions to deal with and these days he’s clean and healthy and still making great music. 

Sadly it seems that some of those demons and addictions also affected his son Justin Townes Earle (the titular “J.T.”) who has been quoted as saying "I discovered very fast that my way of doing things was going to get me in trouble, and I kept going with it, because I believed the myth for a long time, and I believed I had to destroy myself to make great art.”. Tragically in August 2020 Justin passed away due to an accidental overdose of fentanyl laced cocaine, at the age of 38, the same age that his Dad got clean.

“J.T.” is Steve Earle’s tribute to his son, 10 of Justin’s songs recorded with Steve’s band The Dukes plus one new song about Justin to finish on. He has made similar albums of the songs of Townes van Zandt, Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker but this he made because he had to, saying recording the album “wasn’t cathartic as much as it was therapeutic”. I wasn’t at all familiar with Justin’s music so for me this was a poignant introduction to a writer about who his Dad said “He was a way better singer than I am, a way better guitar player, technically, than I am” and bear in mind I’m a massive Steve Earle fan.

I’d urge you to listen to “I Don’t Care”, “Maria”, “Far Away In Another Town”, “The Saint Of Lost Causes” and the rollicking “Harlem River Blues” (“Tell my mama I love her, tell my father I tried”), either Steve or Justin’s versions, great songs all. But the one I’m going to link you to is Steve’s lone original song on the album. On that night in August 2020 Justin had called his Dad and they talked about the sons addictions and how, when he was ready, his Dad would help him get well. “Do not make me bury you” Steve recalled in an interview “And he said, ‘I won’t”. The conversation ended “I love you” and Justin replied “I love you too”…have a listen to “Last Words”…

“Now I don't know what I'll do, Until the day I follow you, Through the darkness to the light, 'Cause I loved you for all your life…”

Last Words - https://youtu.be/RR2XPOYqSZI

On April 5, 2010, around 1,000 feet below ground, a coal dust explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in Montcoal,  Raleigh County, West Virginia killed twenty-nine of the thirty-one miners who were working that day. It was the worst mining accident in the United States since 1970. A state investigation found in December 2011 that the mine owners were directly responsible for the Upper Big Branch mine disaster citing that flagrant safety violations contributed to the explosion. In 2012 the mines owners said it would be permanently closed.

“Ghosts Of West Virginia” is the soundtrack to the off-Broadway play “Coal Country” written about the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. Steve Earle collaborated on the play written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, drawing on interviews with survivors and families of the miners. In the song “It’s About Blood” Earle reads out the names of all 29 miners that died in the disaster.

That very angry song is followed on the album by the devastatingly beautiful “If I Could See Your Face Again”, sung from the point of view of a bereaved wife by Dukes Fiddle player Eleanor Whitmore. It’s one of Steve Earle’s very best songs and honestly makes me wanna cry every time I hear it.

“Ghosts Of West Virginia” met with almost universal critical acclaim. The whole album doesn’t last 30 minutes, it’s bloody wonderful.

If I Could See Your Face Again - https://youtu.be/CAEe2ngQCj8

There are huge holes in my Steve Earle record collection, I was in CD/download mode during most of these releases. I’ve got a notion to collect all the albums with Tony Fitzpatrick sleeves and this is one of those. Released in 2007, my copy is a 2020 re-issue on sparkly gold vinyl, “Washington Square Serenade” was Steve Earle’s 12th studio album. By now you know what you’re getting with a Steve Earle record, out on the fringes of “country” music with an eye on societies injustices but still able to conjure a great love song when required.

In part this album is about Earle leaving Nashville (the titular “Guitar Town” of his 1986 debut album) and relocating to New York. It starts right up front in “Tennessee Blues" when he sings "Won't be back no more, boss, you won't see me around, Goodbye, Guitar Town”; "Down Here Below" chronicles the haves in their skyscraping penthouses seen beside the have-nots living down in the subway; "City of Immigrants”, recorded with NY Brazilian ex-pat group Forro in the Dark, celebrates NY’s global make up. Elsewhere “Days Aren’t Long Enough” is a cool duet sung with his (then) wife Allison Moorer and the album finishes on a cover of Tom Waits “Way Down In The Hole”, used as the theme tune to series 5 of “The Wire” in which Earle had a recurring role as a drug counsellor (!) in three series of the show.

“Washington Square Serenade” is not Steve Earle’s greatest album, if you’re curious about his stuff it’s not where you wanna start, but I like what he does so it’s all good with me. I really do need to fill those holes tho’.

Days Aren’t Long Enough - https://youtu.be/LClZO4E_hcQ