I don’t know what it is about the Earles’ songwriting that I love so much. Both son and father are amazing songwriters, they know how to write a song about a cheesy topic and make it deep and meaningful. Steve Earle told his son (Justin Townes Earle) “Only write about what you know about, don’t write songs about farming, it just sounds phony” About a month ago when I first heard this advice, it changed my songwriting. I no longer wrote songs about things I wish I was experiencing, I started writing songs about things that were actually happening, this change made my songwriting much more fruitful. Both son and father had at one time had big drug and alcohol problems. I don’t know weather this helped or hurt their songwriting, and I guess we’ll never know. But these drug addictions gave them experiences, it forced them to hit rock bottom. I think living through these times of turmoil gave these people great strength, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right?
Every song I’ve heard these guys create is amazing, Justin Townes Earle’s sound suits me more, and I may even like the songwriting better. Justin Townes Earle has a great songwriting style, my favorite song of his Yuma (which is the title track of his first EP) is a song about a guy who kills himself because of a “weary heart” The way he writes is amazing, he makes it feel as if you are living within the song. It makes you feel emotion, and that’s what I think a good should should do. ”A weary heart just needs a little touching, Is it to much to ask he cried as he stepped into the wind.” “So with the wind in his hair and a smile on his face he crashed through the hood of an olds 98″ The lyrics have a great amount of intensity but he sings them calmly. It creates an effect that grabs your heart and doesn’t let go till the end of the song.
Steve Earle also knows how to write a great song. My favorite song of his is Johnny Come Lately, I even cover it on occasion. It’s a song from the album Copperhead Road. Which is one of my favorite albums of all time. It’s a song that takes you back to the glorious second world war, paints a beautiful picture and then brings to to the reality of the Vietnam war. The song says to me that war has lost its sparkle, it’s no longer glorious and filled with pride. The opening couple lines are amazing “I’m an American boy, I’ve come a long way, born and bred in the USA” It just screams pride in America, then the song takes this turn “Now my granddaddy sang me this song, Told me about Londen when the Blitz was on, How he married Grandma and brought her back home, A hero throughout his land ,Now, I’m standing on a runway in San Diego, A couple Purple Hearts and I move a little slow ,There’s nobody here, maybe nobody knows, About a place called Vietnam” I love this songwriting, These two guys have changed songwriting for me, for the better. “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that” Steve Earle.
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