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Steve Earle is set to release Townes, his highly anticipated follow up to the Grammy Award winning album Washington Square Serenade, on May 12th via New West Records. The 15-song set is comprised of songs written by Earle s friend and mentor, the late singer-songwriter, Townes Van Zandt. Townes will also be available as a deluxe two-CD set, as well as double Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl.Reviews:
Steve Earle is set to release Townes, his highly anticipated follow up
to the Grammy Award winning album Washington Square Serenade, on May
12th via New West Records. The 15-song set is comprised of songs
written by Earle s friend and mentor, the late singer-songwriter,
Townes Van Zandt. Townes will also be available as a deluxe two-CD set,
as well as double Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl.
The
album was produced by Earle at his home in Greenwich Village, at Sound
Emporium and Room and Board in Nashville, TN and The Nest in Hollywood,
CA. The track Lungs, was produced and mixed by the Dust Brothers John
King and features Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine/The
Nightwatchman on electric guitar. Earle s wife, the acclaimed
singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, is featured on backing vocals on
Loretta and To Live Is To Fly. Three songs cut in Nashville, White
Freightliner Blues, Delta Momma Blues, and Don t Take It Too Bad
feature a bluegrass band consisting of Dennis Crouch, Tim O Brien,
Darrel Scott and Shad Cobb.
Earle met Townes Van Zandt in 1972
at one of Earle s performances at The Old Quarter in Houston, TX. Van
Zandt was in the audience and playfully heckled Earle throughout the
performance to play the song Wabash Cannonball Earle admitted that he
didn t know how to play the tune and Van Zandt replied incredibly You
call yourself a folksinger and you don t know Wabash Cannonball? Earle
then silenced him by playing the Van Zandt song Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold,
not an easy feat due to its quickly-paced mouthful of lyrics squeezed
into just over two minutes of song. Their bond was immediately formed.
On Townes, Earle and his son, singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle
(named after Van Zandt) trade verses on the tune, a song the two of
them have been playing together since Justin was a teenager.
The
songs selected for Townes were the ones that meant the most to Earle
and the ones he personally connected to (not including selections
featured on previous Earle albums). Some of the selections chosen were
songs that Earle has played his entire career ( Pancho and Lefty,
Lungs, White Freightliner Blues ) and others he had to learn
specifically for recording. He learned the song (Quicksilver Daydreams
of) Maria directly from Van Zandt, and taught himself Marie and Rake
specifically for the album s recording. Once a song he played during
his live show, Earle relearned Colorado Girl in the original Open D
tuning that Van Zandt played it in. Earle recorded the New York
sessions solo and then added the other instruments later on in order to
preserve the spirit of Van Zandt s original solo performances to the
best of his recollection.