Road warrior Earle hits the road

Wednesday, February 1, 2012 – Road warrior Justin Townes Earle will embark on a headlining tour this spring, including dates at New York's Webster Hall and Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to support his upcoming CD " Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now." 洵洵洵洵

The new album is Earle's fourth release and drops March 27 on Bloodshot Records . The CD is the follow-up to his 2010 album, "Harlem River Blues."

Produced by Earle alongside longtime collaborator Skylar Wilson, the 10-track album was recorded completely live with no overdubs over a 4-day period at an old converted church recording studio in Asheville, N.C. "I think that it's the job of the artist to be in transition and constantly learn more. The new record is completely different than my last one, 'Harlem River Blues.' This time I've gone in a Memphis-soul direction."

Tour dates are:

March 10 North Adams, MA MASS MoCA

March 15 Little Rock, AR Rev Room*

March 17 Austin, TX SXSW - Stubb's

March 20 Mobile, AL Callahan's (SOLD OUT)

March 22 Savannah, GA Savannah Music Festival at Lucas Theatre #

March 23 Live Oak, FL Suwannee SpringFest

March 29 Bloomington, IL The Castle Theatre

March 30 Iowa City, IA Mission Creek Music Festival

March 31 Cascade, IA Ellen Kennedy Fine Arts Center

May 3 Houston, TX Fitzgeralds*

May 4 Austin, TX Antones*

May 5 Dallas, TX Club Dada*

May 7 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater*

May 8 Madison, WI Barrymore Theatre*

May 10 Chicago, IL Park West*

May 11 Columbus, OH The Bluestone*

May 12 Toronto, ON Opera House*

May 13 Buffalo, NY Town Ballroom*

May 14 Northampton, MA Pearl Street Nightclub*

May 16 Boston, MA Somerville Theatre*

May 17 New York, NY Webster Hall*

May 18 Alexandria, VA Birchmere Music Hall*

May 19 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts*

May 20 Annapolis, MD Rams Head On Stage*

May 22 Richmond, VA Botanical Garden*

May 23 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle*

May 24 Knoxville, TN Square Room*

May 25 Roswell, GA Roswell Cultural Arts Center ##

June 1 Chattanooga, TN Track 29**

June 2 Nashville, TN The Ryman**

June 3 Morgantown, WV Mountain Stage

June 29 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall

June 30 & July 1 Laytonville, VA Kate Wolf Music Festival

July 3 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater

July 4 Vancouver, BC Rio Theatre

July 6 Seattle, WA Showbox at the Market

* with support from Tristen
# co-headline with The Head and the Heart
## with support from Joe McGuiness
** co-headline with Todd Snider

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CD reviews for Justin Townes Earle

Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now

Just like his famously troubled father, Justin Townes Earle has often generated as much press for his substance-fueled escapades as his musical prowess. Thankfully, that genetic predilection has been tempered with a similarly potent gift for song craft and creative evolution, two elements that have distinguished Earle's catalog to date, particularly his last album, the sacred-meets-secular traditional modernism of 2010's "Harlem River Blues." With his fifth and latest, »»»

Harlem River Blues

There are few obvious parallels between the music of Justin Townes Earle and that of the two men from whom he got his latter two names: his father, Steve, and Steve's idol, Townes Van Zandt. Ditto Justin's own idol, Woody Guthrie. On the surface, at least, Justin has more in common with Ricky Nelson, whose own dad, Ozzie, was also a bandleader. Hmmm... Let it also be recalled that Ricky Nelson overcame doubters to become a pretty fair musician. Ditto J.T. Earle. »»»

Midnight at the Movies

Justin Townes Earle opts for a singer-songwriter realm that instantly brings to mind Kevin Welch, especially on the gorgeous title track. From there, it's a slow, honky-tonk song entitled What I Mean To You which falls a bit flat early and seems much too forced. The same can be said later on when he romps through the train-chugging Black Eyed Suzy. When Earle keeps things on the straight and narrow, the performances shine as is the case on They Killed John Henry, a sparse toe tapper that »»»

Editorial: Walking the talk – When names like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon and the Hag are invoked, you're talking hard core country. These are the touchstones of country , the guys who made country music what it was and still is (or maybe can be). When these folks would sing about being down-and-out and the rough-and-tumble, they knew of what they were singing about. Fast forward a few years to the country singers of today. »»»

Concert Review: Music City goes (Boston) Pop(s) – On the face of it, the idea of top shelf country songwriters coming up from Nashville to play with the Boston Pops may seem incongruous. The idea of the venerable Boston institution and fixture on the July 4 scene, playing patriotic songs doesn't have all that much to do with country. The idea isn't without precedent, of course.... »»»

Concert Review: O'Donovan goes home – Aiofe O'Donovan had plenty of reason to be filled with good cheer. This was a hometown gig, after all, and only three days before the release of her first full-length solo debut, "Fossils." Joking that the audience was filled with people she knew from high school and her parents' friends, O'Donovan made it clear that Boston... »»»

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