What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle

Music journalist Bernstein debuts with a vivid chronicle of the short, turbulent career of singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, who died of a drug overdose at age 38 in 2020. Earle grew up in the shadow of his father Steve Earle, a country-rock singer whose frequent absences during Earle’s childhood spurred him to seek refuge in music. After dropping out of high school, Earle played in seedy clubs, building up a vast repertoire of original songs and developing a drinking and drug habit that dogged him throughout his career. (Earle recognized the destructive nature of the myth that “art and music as a higher calling.... requires suffering,” Bernstein writes, while remaining somewhat powerless against its appeal.) Shunning the polished sound of Nashville’s Music Row, Earle drew on the Great Depression–era folk tradition for an earthy, roots-inspired sound. Mainstream success arrived in 2010 with Earle’s third album, Harlem River Blues, cementing his reputation for alternative songcraft even as the fame jeopardized his fragile sobriety. Revealing and raw interviews with Earle’s family and confidantes add emotional depth to this comprehensive portrait, which also touches on such contemporaneous developments as the gentrification of East Nashville and the commercialization of indie music. The result is a rich character study and an insightful appraisal of the toll art can exact from its makers. (Jan.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review mistakenly attributed a previous book, Lenny Bruce Is Dead, to the author. That book was written by Jonathan Goldstein.