back to calendar ›

Justin Townes Earle w/ special guest Joshua Hedley with Joshua Hedley

Share this event:

We are excited to announce the return of Justin Townes Earle to Infinity Hall Norfolk! What a perfect setting for his music and style. This year is he touring internationally in support of his new album Kids in the Street(2017). So not only do we get some of the classics we know and love, but we can expect some new music as well.

Joining Justin is country superstar Joshua Hedley who has been wowing fans in Nashville since he was only 11yrs old. His style pays homage to the golden era of 60’s style country music.

Grab your tickets today and get a seat up front for this one of a kind show!

 

Justin Townes Earle

Connect with this artist:

www.justintownesearle.com

Video:

Artist Bio

Once compared to a man who wears many suits, in thirty-two short years Justin Townes Earle has experienced more than most, both personally and professionally. Between releasing four full-length-critically-acclaimed albums, constant touring, multiple stints in rehab, a new found sobriety, being born Steve Earle’s son, amicable and not-so-amicable break-ups with record labels, and facing the trials and tribulations of everyday life, it’s safe to say JTE has quite the story to tell. His fifth album (and first ever on Vagrant Records) serves as the perfect platform for such narrations.

Entitled Single Mothers, the album is comprised of ten tracks that showcase exactly why Justin Townes Earle is considered a forefather of Contemporary Americana. As a recently married, sober man JTE writes from a point of maturity and content we’ve not seen before on past records. “One day I just realized it’s not cool to die young, and it’s even less cool to die after 30,” Justin states as he reflects on a life past and his newly found clarity. What he’s created is an album that’s raw, honest and personal in a way he hasn’t touched upon since his debut EP, Yuma.

Co-produced along side longtime engineer Adam Bednarik, Single Mothers shines in a world of pop-culture driven Ameri- cana records. “I don’t really know what Americana means anymore,” Justin laughs. “That’s not a slant on Americana, it’s just become a very unclassifiable genre. It’s gone seemingly pop. There are good parts to that, but it’s getting to a point where it won’t be able to redeem itself if it doesn’t slow down. Just like everything that gets popular.” With his heart and soul still rooted in Nashville, Single Mothers shows Justin’s continued combination of catchy songs and authenticity.

The album was recorded live with his four-piece touring band with only days of rehearsal leading up to recording to keep the ideas fresh. No overdubs, no other singers, no additional players – just a real, heartfelt performance capturing the moment. In fact, his songs “Picture in a Drawer’ and ‘It’s Cold in This House’ are only Justin, his guitar and his pedal steel player Paul Niehaus.

Earle’s new perspective is clear on Single Mothers as it opens with the track ‘Worried Bout The Weather,’ where we see the intimate, sensitive side of JTE. Here Justin rehashes feelings of trouble on the horizon singing “it don’t take a twister to wreck a home, don’t take a night to feel like you’re in the dark and all alone” – a theme that has surfaced before in his lyrics, but this time with a personal honesty and openness. Justin’s mood switches gears on the upbeat track ‘My Baby Drives.’ “My baby drives me to church on Sundays, take me to see my Momma on every

other Monday. Some might say I’m the luckiest man alive,” Justin croons light heartedly. On the title track ‘Single Mothers’ we hear feelings of resentment as JTE growls, “absent father, never offer even a dollar, he doesn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that he’s forfeited his rights to his own. Absent father is long gone.”

“As I’ve gotten older my anger comes from a very different place. It’s more rational and mature. I guess that comes along with clarity,” JTE reflects. Single Mothers finds Justin dealing with past struggles and anger with more ease than ever before. Creating a nostalgic feeling with the return to his signature sound, JTE takes listeners on a journey through some of his most personal stories yet on what can only be described as an authentic country record.

Joshua Hedley

Connect with this artist:

www.joshuahedley.com

Pound for pound, there's no better unsigned artist working in Nashville today. A nuanced, heart-tugging fiddle ace – he was playing in bars before age 11 – Hedley has been the go-to sideman for Justin Townes Earle and Jonny Fritz. And his voice – he guests on the new track "Shadows" by Southern rapper Yelawolf – is just as striking, a warm, smooth baritone that's nonetheless capable of hitting honky-tonk highs. As such, Hedley has become a fixture of the bars on Lower Broadway, particularly the classic-country outpost Robert's Western World, which he calls "my spot forever, no matter what happens." Should Jack White be looking to sign the male counterpart to Margo Price, he needn't look any further.

"So many of my contemporaries dabble in a classic sound but there's always some sort of new innovative twist. My new innovative twist is that there isn't one. It's important to exercise your creative muscles, but for me the genre of country music was perfected in 1965 and anything after that, albeit good, was experimentation. When it comes to making country music, my mantra is, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'" – Joshua Hedley

Video:

---

buy tickets for this show ›

Other Shows you may be interested in:

Martin Sexton Trio Cowboy Junkies Kate Taylor w/s/g The Nields