Justin Townes Earle is set to return with The Saint of Lost Causes on May 24th, 2019. The 12-song set was co-produced by Earle and his longtime engineer Adam Bednarik and was recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville, TN. Founded by Cowboy Jack Clement in 1969, Sound Emporium has hosted country luminaries such as Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers as well as R.E.M., and countless other historic artists. The Saint of Lost Causes is Earle’s follow up to his critically acclaimed 2017 Kids In The Street, and spans everything from traditional country, blues and folk to western swing, roots-rock and boogie-woogie.
Justin Townes Earle has done a lot of living in 37 years. Born in Nashville on January 4th, 1982, he grew up as the son of country-rock iconoclast Steve Earle, who gave him his middle name in honor of his mentor, the brilliant songwriter Townes Van Zandt. For years he struggled with addiction with numerous stints in rehab; long stretches of itinerancy and general juvenile delinquency; a youth he once said he was “lucky to have gotten out of alive.” These days Earle is focused as a married father to a baby girl and is creating the best art of his career. While he describes Kids In The Street as “one of the more personal records I’ve ever made,” he chose to focus his gaze outward for this new set of songs.
For The Saint of Lost Causes, Earle is focused on a different America – the disenfranchised and the downtrodden, the oppressed and the oppressors, the hopeful and the hopeless, as well as their geography. There’s the drugstore-cowboy-turned-cop-killer praying for forgiveness (“Appalachian Nightmare”) and the Michiganders persevering through economic and industrial devastation (“Flint City Shake It”); the stuck mother dreaming of a better life on the right side of the California tracks (“Over Alameda”) and the Cuban man in New York City weighed down by a world of regret (“Ahi Esta Mi Nina”); the “used up” soul desperate to get to New Orleans (“Ain’t Got No Money”) and the “sons of bitches” in West Virginia poisoning the land and sea (“Don’t Drink The Water”).
These are individuals and communities in every corner of the country, struggling through the ordinary – and sometimes extraordinary – circumstances of everyday life. “I was trying to look through the eyes of America,” Earle says. “Because I believe in the idea of America – that everybody’s welcome here and has a right to be here.” Earle tells these American stories in detail and without judgement. While some songs cite historic events, other tracks present fictionalized narratives that are no less harrowing or true-to-life.
Today, Billboard has premiered the video for The Saint of Lost Causes single “Frightened By The Sound.” They call it an “impressionistic video of a couple in a tense repose” and that it “is a bit of a mid-album respite, an unspecific rumination about the toll Earle’s song subject exacts on real people.” Speaking to Billboard, Earle offers, ‘That song is not necessarily about one thing. It’s about this world we’re living in, and what could happen to us at any point. We’re probably in one of the more tense times on Earth since the Cuban Missile Crisis — in this country, anyway. So it’s about the relationships and the way we relate to one another and life and every day with all that going on.” The video was directed by Joshua Britt & Neilson Hubbard of Neighborhoods Apart Productions and can be seen HERE.
Rolling Stone Country previously premiered the album’s first single, “Ain’t Got No Money,” calling it a “shifty roots rocker.” Hear it Here.
Justin Townes Earle has also announced his initial tour dates in support of The Saint of Lost Causes. The dates will launch on April 12th in Waverly, AL and include a weeklong support tour with Rodrigo Y Gabriela, an appearance on NPR’s Mountain Stage on May 19th (to be aired nationally on May 31st), European dates, and The Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival (alongside Foo Fighters, The Killers, and more). Please see all dates below.
The Saint of Lost Causes will be available on compact disc, across digital retailers, Standard Black Vinyl, Split Gold & Translucent Yellow Vinyl available exclusively at Independent Retailers, and Translucent Blue-colored vinyl available now for pre-order directly from New West Records.
Justin Townes Earle The Saint Of Lost Causes Track Listing:
- The Saint Of Lost Causes
- Ain’t Got No Money
- Mornings In Memphis
- Don’t Drink The Water
- Frightened By The Sound
- Flint City Shake It
- Over Alameda
- Pacific Northwestern Blues
- Appalachian Nightmare
- Say Baby
- Ahi Esta Mi Nina
- Talking To Myself
Justin Townes Earle On Tour:
April 12th – Waverly, AL – Waverly Local
April 13th – Columbia, SC – River Rocks Festival
April 14th – Jacksonville, FL – Murray Hill Theatre
May 19th – Charleston, WV – Culture Center Theatre / NPR Mountain Stage
June 1st – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theater (with Rodrigo Y Gabriela)
June 2nd – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium (with Rodrigo Y Gabriela)
June 4th – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheater (with Rodrigo Y Gabriela)
June 5th – Charlottesville, VA – Sprint Pavilion (with Rodrigo Y Gabriela)
June 7th – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap (with Rodrigo Y Gabriela)
June 9th – Grand Rapids, MI – Frederik Meijer Garden Amphitheater (with Rodrigo Y Gabriela)
June 15th – Stockholm, SE – Sthlm Americana
June 16th – Loderup, SE – Solhallen
June 18th – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso Noord
June 20th – London, UK – Union Chapel
June 22nd – Tunbridge Wells, UK – Black Deer Festival
June 23rd – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
June 24th – Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute
June 25th – Newcastle, UK – Live Theatre
June 26th – Glasgow, UK – Oran Mor
September 21st & 22nd – Franklin, TN Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival
