Townes Last Chance

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Steve Earle is set to release Townes, his highly anticipated follow up to the Grammy Award winning album Washington Square Serenade, on May 12th via New West Records. The 15-song set is comprised of songs written by Earle s friend and mentor, the late singer-songwriter, Townes Van Zandt. Townes will also be available as a deluxe two-CD set, as well as double Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl.

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Steve Earle is set to release Townes, his highly anticipated follow upto the Grammy Award winning album Washington Square Serenade, on May12th via New West Records. The 15-song set is comprised of songswritten by Earle s friend and mentor, the late singer-songwriter,Townes Van Zandt. Townes will also be available as a deluxe two-CD set,as well as double Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl.

Thealbum was produced by Earle at his home in Greenwich Village, at SoundEmporium and Room and Board in Nashville, TN and The Nest in Hollywood,CA. The track Lungs, was produced and mixed by the Dust Brothers JohnKing and features Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine/TheNightwatchman on electric guitar. Earle s wife, the acclaimedsinger-songwriter Allison Moorer, is featured on backing vocals onLoretta and To Live Is To Fly. Three songs cut in Nashville, WhiteFreightliner Blues, Delta Momma Blues, and Don t Take It Too Badfeature a bluegrass band consisting of Dennis Crouch, Tim O Brien,Darrel Scott and Shad Cobb.

Earle met Townes Van Zandt in 1972at one of Earle s performances at The Old Quarter in Houston, TX. VanZandt was in the audience and playfully heckled Earle throughout theperformance to play the song Wabash Cannonball Earle admitted that hedidn t know how to play the tune and Van Zandt replied incredibly Youcall yourself a folksinger and you don t know Wabash Cannonball? Earlethen silenced him by playing the Van Zandt song Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold,not an easy feat due to its quickly-paced mouthful of lyrics squeezedinto just over two minutes of song. Their bond was immediately formed.On Townes, Earle and his son, singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle(named after Van Zandt) trade verses on the tune, a song the two ofthem have been playing together since Justin was a teenager.

Thesongs selected for Townes were the ones that meant the most to Earleand the ones he personally connected to (not including selectionsfeatured on previous Earle albums). Some of the selections chosen weresongs that Earle has played his entire career ( Pancho and Lefty,Lungs, White Freightliner Blues ) and others he had to learnspecifically for recording. He learned the song (Quicksilver Daydreamsof) Maria directly from Van Zandt, and taught himself Marie and Rakespecifically for the album s recording. Once a song he played duringhis live show, Earle relearned Colorado Girl in the original Open Dtuning that Van Zandt played it in. Earle recorded the New Yorksessions solo and then added the other instruments later on in order topreserve the spirit of Van Zandt s original solo performances to thebest of his recollection.