Artist - Steve Earle
Album - Townes
Label - New West
Fifteen songs by Steve Earle’s inspiration, friend and mentor, Townes Van Zandt, self-recorded and produced, may sound like a labour of love that could go lots of different ways.
While every song is handled respectfully, and none diverges too far from its original (bar perhaps Lungs, where Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello guests), Earle reveals that he is a great interpreter too. The album varies from Train A Comin’ indie folk to The Mountain bluegrass to classic Earle.
As a whole, the album is not his strongest, but it does arrest the slight decline shown in his last two studio albums, where easy politics have replaced songwriting.
Not a single song sounds out of place in 2009, and there is a strong sense that Earle’s own path to this record echoes Townes Van Zandt’s own personal journey – Townes isn’t the sound of hollow retread, but of some kind of spiritual renewal.
Rating 8/10
Mike Rea
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