What Do You Do When You're Lonesome
The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle
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What Do You Do When You're Lonesome
Narrated by:
John Pirhalla
Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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John Pirhalla
About this listen
When Justin Townes Earle died of an overdose alone in his Nashville apartment, his death sent waves of grief through the country-Americana music community. The son of alt-country hellraiser Steve Earle had long struggled with mental illness and various addictions. There had been encouraging periods of long-term sobriety and active recovery in his adult life, including the years that led up to his career peak when he released the 2010 masterpiece Harlem River Blues, a career-making album of rambling folk blues set to Southern Gospel.
He sang of cramped Brooklyn apartments and crippling hangovers, about emotional displacement, economic anxiety, and the wandering that characterized his feral, formative years as a rootless kid rambling around Nashville, developing his own unique guitar style and absorbing the musical influences that surrounded him. He was anointed by critics as the next coming of the authentic troubadour. By the time of his death, he’d recorded and released eight albums, creating a striking and original body of work.
Jonathan Bernstein, with the full cooperation of the Justin Townes Earle estate, unravels in these pages a short but incredibly creative life, and reveals the backstories behind Justin’s greatest songs (“Mama’s Eyes,” “White Gardenias”) and what happened when it all fell apart while also capturing a shadow world of the neglected children of Nashville legends who wrestle with the legacies of their hard-living, road-weary, often absent parents.
Justin’s journey to near-stardom is a harrowing story shot through with moments of clarity and promise, including his marriage to his wife Jenn Marie Earle and the birth of their daughter. But what Earle called “the myth”—the idea that one must suffer for one’s art—proved to be too powerful.
This heartbreaking, deeply researched tale is an exemplary music biography.
Editorial Review
Busting the myth of the tortured artist
The myth persists that one must destroy oneself to make great art, and we have lost too many talented and creative people to addiction masked as a form of self-sacrifice. This is at the heart of author and
Rolling Stone journalist Jonathan Bernstein’s book about Justin Townes Earle. A "millennial Woody Guthrie-type," Earle rose to prominence during the Americana resurgence in the wake of the Great Recession in the late 2000s with landmark songs such as “Mama’s Eyes” and “White Gardenias.” Tragically, Earle died from an overdose at the age of 38 in August 2020. Perhaps his version of "the myth" started with the name, which conjured two self-destructive Southern songwriters: Townes Van Zandt and alt-country rock star Steve Earle, Justin’s father. Bernstein received the full cooperation of the late artist's estate and Earle’s widow, Jenn Marie, to deliver a deeply researched and heartbreaking cautionary tale that others can hopefully learn from. —Jerry P., Audible Editor
Critic Reviews
“There's no book on American music like What Do You Do When You're Lonesome. In this brilliant book, Jonathan Bernstein tells the raw and unflinching story of an artist born at the crossroads of so many American myths. But Bernstein turns it into a heartbreaking epic portrait of this country—and the songs that keep haunting our darkest national dreams.”—Rob Sheffield, New York Times bestselling author of Heartbreak is the National Anthem, Dreaming the Beatles, and Love is a Mix Tape
“Jonathan Bernstein approaches this story with the heart of a true fan, the diligence of a veteran journalist, and the empathy of a person wanting to deeply understand the man beyond the music and the mythology. A beautifully written book about a beloved and misunderstood artist: about the love that binds us together, the flaws that tear us apart, and the songs that keep us going when everything else fails. Impeccably contextualized in the ever-changing world of Nashville and roots music, it sticks with you long after the last page is through—just like Justin’s songs.”—Marissa R. Moss, author of Her Country
“A biographical gut punch. In telling the story of Justin Townes Earle, he manages to explore grand sweeping themes—the nature of creativity, the complexities of family, fame and addiction—while tracing the small, human details of one man’s journey. A beautiful portrait and a profound investigation, harrowing and heartfelt all at once, it’s a work that will stay with you for a long time.”—Bob Mehr, New York Times bestselling author of Trouble Boys
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