Justin Townes Earle (January 4th, 1982-August 20th, 2020) was a singer, musician, entertainer and music historian. But the job title that meant the most to Earle was songwriter. Over the course of eight-full length albums and one E.P. that the Nashville-raised singer released during his lifetime, Earle wrote songs that explored the dark frailties and vulnerabilities of the human condition with an unrivaled honesty. It was Earle’s unsparing honesty that helped place the singer at the center of the next generation of artists surrounding the growing Americana and roots genres in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s. Earle was best known for his electric, unparalleled live shows, where he performed his fiery, unique blend of finger-picked guitar that was inspired by bluesmen like Mance Lipscomb and Lightnin Hopkins. During his 13 year solo career, he shared the stage with everyone from John Prine to Levon Helm to Gillian Welch. After struggling with chemical dependency for over two decades, Earle died of an accidental overdose in August, 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, at the age of 38. But even if Earle’s life was cut tragically short, the remarkable body of work he left has only begun to be discovered and shared around the world. By Jonathan Bernstein 2021 (full bio on webiste)