On September 4th, Justin Townes Earle’s highly anticipated follow-up to 09’s Midnight at the Movies drops on Bloodshot Records. Straight off the success of winning the Americana Music Award’s 2009 Best New and Emerging Artist, Harlem River Blues finds a more mature, intricate and involved Earle, who coproduced the record with Skylar Wilson is backed by Bryan Owings (drums), Paul Niehaus (Calexico – guitar), and Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show – harmonica). Earle’s raw voice and simple tunes remain timeless, and he offers a balanced mix of gospel and blues, rousing rockers, and tender, sweet ballads. Perhaps this Nashville musician’s recent move to NYC is telling, with the recovered addict’s deliberate act of leaving the past behind; it’s no coincidence that the Harlem River separates Manhattan from the Bronx. But what he has found in its wake, what he has created is gold: with Harlem River Blues, Earle’s found yet another way to be a timeless original and this is easily one of my most anticipated albums of the year. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | A.A. Bondy, Pokey LaFarge and the South City, Langhorne Slim, Jimmie Rodgers, Townes Van Zandt, Hank Williams, Woody Pines