Today’s is;
I came across JTE maybe 3 years ago from the usual rabbit hole of Spotify while working (one of the only good things about Spotify - easily am discovering new artists, but please support artists by buying their music as streaming is worth next to nothing for most).
Songs like Pacific Northwestern Blues, Ain’t Hot No Money and Don’t Drink The Water would pop up from this album along with other album songs like Champagne Corolla and Mama’s Eyes. I fell in love with his work immediately.
He Carrie’s the torch of Americana with, what I hear as, that Nashville/New Orleans drive - very addictive.
After delving into videos on YouTube I found that even more than the studio produced albums, I loved seeing him just on his own with a cheap Recording King guitar on a stage. (I also love the story he tells of how he uses cheap guitars as he wants to be more of a working man’s musician and be something of a reachable role model to young players rather than untouchable with a $6k guitar
His (seemingly) natural on-stage confidence, charisma, cheeky charm, heavy hitting thumb and loose playfulness with his melodies is something I truely admire, as playing live is where my own passion is.
Writing songs, for me, is more a therapy and a need to get things out mixed with the need to be creative. Recording songs is okay but nowhere near as fun as getting up and playing them!
I was sad to learn we lost JTE, Steve Earle’s son, back in 2020 so I will never get to see his genius live, but I am starting to find myself adopting little bits of his playing, hos playfulness with my own Melodie’s, and Jo and I cover a few of his songs.
If you want to get lost in an artist, try Justin. Listen through his albums, watch his one man love videos (Mama’s Eyes and Whote Gardenias and especially beautiful live), and support his wife fe and child by buying his music - they’re here on Facebook