Steve Earle & The Dukes To Honor Justin Townes Earle With New Album, ‘J.T.,’ Set For January

/by

Steve Earle & The Dukes will honor Earle’s late son, musician Justin Townes Earle, on the upcoming album, J.T. The album will release Jan. 4, 2021, on what would have been Justin’s 39th birthday. Justin Townes Earle died Aug. 20, 2020 in Nashville.

On the project, Steve Earle and the Dukes cover 10 of Justin’s songs, including “Harlem River Blues,” which earned Song of the Year at the 2011 Americana Music Awards, following Justin’s win in the Emerging Artist of the Year category in 2009. The album closes with “Last Words,” a song Steve Earle wrote for Justin.

All of the artist advances and royalties from the album will be donated to a trust for Etta St. James Earle, Justin and Jenn Earle’s three-year-old daughter. Following the album’s January release, CD and vinyl editions will be available on March 19, 2021.

“The record is called J.T. because Justin was never called anything else until he was nearly grown. Well, when he was little, I called him Cowboy,” explains Steve Earle. “For better or worse, right or wrong, I loved Justin Townes Earle more than anything else on this earth. That being said, I made this record, like every other record I’ve ever made… for me. It was the only way I knew to say goodbye.”

Steve Earle and Justin Townes Earle. Photo: Sara Sharpe

On Dec. 13, Steve Earle, Luck Productions and City Winery will host the sixth annual John Henry’s Friends Benefit Concert for Autism, which will be held virtually this year and feature performances from Steve Earle & The Dukes, Emmylou Harris, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne, Lucinda Williams, Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires, and many more. 100% of donations will go to The Keswell School – an institution close to Earle’s heart at which his youngest son and the event’s namesake, John Henry, is a student.

Steve Earle – J.T. Track Listing:
1. I Don’t Care
2. Ain’t Glad I’m Leaving
3. Maria
4. Far Away In Another Town
5. They Killed John Henry
6. Turn Out My Lights
7. Lone Pine Hill
8. Champagne Corolla
9. The Saint Of Lost Causes
10. Harlem River Blues
11. Last Words

Jessica Nicholson
Latest posts by Jessica Nicholson (see all)