Justin Townes Earle, LanieLane @ The Gov, Adelaide(03/03/11)

Sun 6th Mar, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Justin Townes Earle hit The Gov for what has been promoted as the ‘late show’ on a Thursday night and late it was. A solid crowd was on hand, both standing at the back or seated in cabaret mode to see Townes Earle delve in to his vast back catalogue.

Getting the night started was Sydney-sider Lanie Lane who impressed and had been described by others as evoking the growl Nina Simone, the softness of Ella Fitzgerald, and the sass of Billie Holiday. She’s a real talent and one to keep an eye out on for the remainder of the year with a debut album eminent. Some the stand outs from her set include the likes of Bang Bang, Heart Beat and What Do I Do, which got the crowd involved in a bit of a sing-a-long.

It seemed like an eternity waiting for Justin Townes Earle to get on stage later mentioning that he broke a string as he was about to walk out. Nevertheless, a rowdy introduction from the loyal following seemed to get Earle fired up and rip in to his first number. With so many singer-songwriters around these days there seems little that separates them but Earle has plenty of interesting tales to tell just like the tattoos on his arms probably involve a tale or two as well.

It didn’t take long for the dedications with They Killed John Henry honouring his grandfather and Earle said that his Pa made his dad look like a teddy bear. Even Woody Guthrie got a dedication on I Don’t Care. A new song and a another story about the life and times of Justin Townes Earle with his mother and father featuring prominently throughout the course of the eveing. The story that made me smile was the one where his father was quoted in the press as saying he’s a hard dog to keep on the porch and he agreed to copping a whack from his six foot tall mother. So it only seemed appropriate that Mama’s Eyes and even Mama Said made the set.

There was a nice tribute to our brothers and sisters who are recovering from the devastating earthquake in New Zealand and Christchurch Woman was very well received. Interestingly enough One More Night In Brooklyn was a classic inspired by a shit town and living with a terrible woman who was able to pull it off!!

Hecklers and those wanting a shout out were put back in their place with a firm ‘don’t tell me what to do’. Mixed in between Wanderin’ and Slippin’ And Slidin’ was an interesting tale about incarceration versus drug dependency with the drug of choice being heroin but nowadays opting for a can of red bull as a high. Later he acknowledged he had a bad heroin problem and ended up working for a drug dealing which inspired Midnight At The Movies. Despite the hard times Earle rarely wallowed in self pity but was an advertisement for people to stop complaining about their own lives.

Rex’s Blues ( Townes Van Zandt cover) was just awesome and so to were Walk Out and Harlem River Blues. It was a great show and I’d highly recommend it to those on the East Coast to venture out and see him while you still can.