Thursday, May 1, 2008

June's Artist of the Month is Justin Townes Earle who plays the Horse this Tuesday June 3rd at 7PM

Justin Townes Earle -- who will be performing at The Iron Horse June 3 -- has had his own share of misery, particularly around his use of drugs, a habit that he learned from his songwriter father who struggled with the hard stuff throughout the 90's, leading to jail time for heroin.

Several years ago, after a binge that kept him awake for 14 straight days, Justin Townes Earle was dragged by a friend to the hospital. "I suffered respiratory failure after being awake for 14 days," Earle recalled. "I've always known that, like, if you walk into the emergency room, and first off they don't make you wait -- like they go, 'oh God, you come here,' and they grab you -- you know you're in trouble. And then you know you're in double trouble when the scissors come out and they start cutting your clothes off."

Just like his father, Justin successfully rebounded from addiction and by all accounts has been sober for several years. He recently released his debut album, The Good Life which blends some old-timey acoustic blues with doses of edgy old-school country.

Just like dad.

Dave Madeloni writes a weekly music column for the Brattleboro Reformer's Ovation section. He can be reached at madeloni@aol.com.

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