Justin Townes Earle will headline a terrific triple bill at free Celebrate Brooklyn! festival on June 30
Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park West & Ninth St.
Thursday, June 30, free (suggested donation $3), 7:00
www.justintownesearle.com
www.bricartsmedia.org
Justin Townes Earle has some good advice for this Thursday. “Tired of laying in bed, listening to the water run / Ceiling’s falling in, Baby’s dress is covered in dust / So I don’t care what it costs, Baby, dust that old thing off / It’s one more night in Brooklyn, Baby, we’re getting lost,” he declares on his most recent album, Harlem River Blues (Bloodshot, September 2010). The follow-up to 2009’s outstanding Midnight at the Movies, the latest disc is another fine collection of country bluegrass folk blues, cut from the tradition of his namesake, Townes Van Zandt, his hero, Woody Guthrie, and his father, Steve Earle. Born in Nashville and currently residing in Lower Manhattan, JTE has inherited more than just his father’s songwriting skill; like his activist pop, he has also battled drug abuse and the law. But the future is still bright for Earle, who was named Best New/Emerging Artist at the 2009 Americana Music Awards. “I’m the son of a railroad man,” he sings on “Working for the MTA,” adding, “This ain’t my daddy’s train.” Justin Townes Earle will be playing Celebrate Brooklyn! on June 30 on a terrific triple bill that also includes the Punch Brothers and the Hackensaw Boys; look for Earle to dedicate his acoustic cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Racing in the Street” to Clarence Clemons.