Justin Townes Earle

Living in the shadow of a famous father can be tough for an aspiring artist, especially if your father happens to be the hard-living country star Steve Earle. Named after one of his father's mentors Townes van Zandt, Justin Townes Earle was born on January 4th, 1982, abandoned by his father at the age of two and brought up by his mother in Nashville. His father, having temporarily managed to overcome his drug addiction issues, returned to the family home in 1994 at which point Justin began his own battle with substance abuse and by his early teens was an addict himself. Against this tragic backdrop Justin developed into a highly respected country singer-songwriter, prompting Rolling Stone Magazine to comment "the son of country-rock renegade Steve Earle has grown into a songwriter to rival his dad." Justin had eight studio albums to his credit but his most acclaimed work was the 2010 release Harlem River Blues, an accomplished collection of eleven blues-influenced country songs which reached number three in the Folk Charts and made the top 50 in the US mainstream charts. As well as his songwriting and singing career, Justin also made a name for himself as a producer and was involved in the production of the Wanda Jackson album Unfinished Business. A little over a year after releasing one of his best-selling studio albums, 2019’s The Saint of Lost Causes, Townes Earle sadly suffered a fatal accidental drug overdose which claimed his life on August 20th, 2020.