Steve Earle (New West)
The late, great and troubled Texas singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt was Steve Earle’s hero, and this album is his 15-track tribute.
The sincerity is obvious but the quality is harder to locate, and it’s all in the delivery.
Van Zandt sang with humility and tenderness; Earle’s exaggerated growl has now reached self-parodic status.
If Townes inspires listeners to find the originals of beautiful songs such as Don’t Take It Too Bad, so much the better.
It probably won’t.
WILL FULFORD-JONES
