Justin Townes Earle's Page

Sophomore releases, such a bumpy road they tread, with expectations being expectations and the fickle nature of hype and short attention spans, how can they live up to the excitement generated by a stellar debut? Within the first song on Justin Townes Earle's second album Midnight At the Movies, you just know you're hearing something special, that you are party to the unknown and exhilarating paths being explored by an artist on the creative ascendancy. Midnight At The Movies displays an adeptness and musical sophistication of remarkable, organic breadth and is as lyrically sharp as a lover's tongue as she is walking out the door.

If you didn't look at the songwriting credits, you'd swear the songs were penned on the stoop of a one-pump filling station in dust bowl era Oklahoma, the smoke-filled song and dream factories of Tin Pan Alley, or at the back door of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in Nashville. Justin effortlessly taps the romanticism imbued in the beaten-soled travelogues and mythos of Woody Guthrie; the lounging around a campfire at a work camp and the edgy angst of a wintry Minneapolis (yeah, just try to get that mandolin line from the cover of the 'Mats’ "Can't Hardly Wait" out of your head.)

Midnight at the Movies is held firm by Justin's astonishing vision and conviction, yet roams o'er the vast landscape of American music without so much as a stumble. From the deft ear for orchestration and ambient arrangement reminiscent of Randy Newman right through, somehow, the countrypolitan cool of Lambchop and hipster retro vibes of Palace Brothers or Magnetic Fields (simply look to the title track for proof), to the amber smooth swing of the Ray Price smilin' thru the heartache school of country ("What I Mean To You," "Poor Fool"), to the immediacy and disarming simplicity of country blues ("They Killed John Henry"), to songs that tell a novel's worth of emotion in a few lines ("Mama's Eyes"), Justin Townes Earle pulls it all off with a confidence and candor that tells the listener that the daring exhibited on his debut album The Good Life only hinted at the growth to come.

Since the release of The Good Life in early 2008, Earle has been a busy man, occupying himself with such activities as performing on the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Fest, Chicago Country Music Festival, Americana Music Awards, Down Home in Norway and his debut on the Grand Ole Opry. He toured non-stop for the past year including pump-priming appearances in the UK, Australia and Scandinavia. Features on NPR’s Morning Edition, Mountain Stage and World Café caught the ears of millions of listeners and admiring ink ran in publications like New York Times, LA Times, Nashville Scene, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, American Songwriter and No Depression. The Good Life debuted on the Billboard Country Chart first week, no small feat for a new artist.

Midnight at the Movies was produced by RS Field and Steve Poulton at the legendary House of David studio. Justin was joined by his touring partner Cory Younts as well as longtime cohorts Bryan Davies, Pete Finney, Josh Hedley, Brian Owings and Skylar Wilson.