Good Feelings

Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now is Justin Townes Earle's fourth full-length record and, continuing in the tradition he's set for himself, it's yet again an improvement on the high standards he set with third record, Harlem River Blues. “Honestly, I feel great about it.” Earle sounds relaxed as he answers his phone in Nashville, Tennessee, a place he's been spending a lot of time in of late. “I'm fortunate; I know a lot of people in the music industry who unfortunately have made records that they're not very happy about, but so far I'm getting what I want when I make records, it's working out pretty well for me so far.”

The biggest difference between this and anything that has come before is that Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now was recorded completely live, a method of recording Earle has wanted to adopt for years. “I actually wanted to record Harlem River Blues live but the budget just wasn't there to do it. It is actually a little bit more expensive to do. But this time, luckily the success that Harlem River Blues had afforded me a little bit bigger budget on this next record, so I was able to rent out the studio that I needed for the recording. That was the biggest part was finding the right place to do it and we found that in Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, North Carolina. It was great; it was a really great time… Although everybody was scared when I said I was gonna do it that way they let me do it and I think it worked out great.”

Earle sounds like he was always going to make this record the exact way he wanted to. Even the way he approached writing his songs was informed by the fact this was how the sessions were going to go. No one need have worried.

“I was pushing everybody from right after we started making Harlem River Blues, I told everybody that the next record was gonna be live. I set to writing the songs. I mean, I always write records to be records, I never just randomly write songs. I usually write about twelve a year and they usually end up on a record. It was definitely something that I set out to do and I think we not only pulled it off, but I think everybody just had a really great time and got to do something that they're not gonna forget for a long time. I'm sure every player who played on the record was very proud and talked about it in the bars when they got back home.”

Stylistically, for this album, Earle looked to his love of 1960s Memphis soul music more than he ever had before. “I figured since I was planning on doing a live record it'd be cool to do a live record and kind of push it in a soul direction – not make a soul record, but just push it in a soul direction. What I was basing the sounds for this new record off of was what was happening in Memphis in the 1960s. It was definitely soul music – especially 1960s Memphis soul music – is something that has a very big part of my heart and it has always influenced me in major ways.”

The studio had come recommended highly by some of Earle's peers and the artist felt it was, overall, a location conducive to producing some good work.

“It's a studio I've been aware of for a while. I think it's about five or six years old. A friend of mine, Malcolm Holcombe, had actually recorded there once and the Avett Brothers also recorded there and they spoke very highly of the place. I also like Asheville; it's a good place to record a record. It's a small mountain town, not a lot of trouble for the musicians to get into and you can keep it fairly quiet.”

Those musicians were mainly familiar faces for Earle, artists that had played on previous records of his. “With the exception of the horn players and Paul Niehaus who played guitar. Paul played steel on a couple tracks on Harlem River Blues but definitely became a very important part of this new record. But everybody else had all played on my previous records. I like working with a tight crew that knows everybody and that works well together.”

This upcoming visit will see his songs more musically embellished than ever before and Earle says it's just the beginning. “I'll be touring Australia with a guitar player and a bass player this time. Hopefully next year we can get a full band down to Australia.”

His audiences down here have grown exponentially since Earle's first visit back in 2008 and he admits to beginning to understand Australia's love of what many would call quintessentially American music. “I think a good example is, like, Bill Chambers, who is one of those old guys who is wily like a fox hunter or something,” he laughs, referencing to the great Australian guitarist, father of Kasey, leader of The Dead Ringer Band and, indeed, former fox hunter. “But one thing that he did he listened to and was obsessed about country music and I found that in Australia around his generation, there are a lot of men who grew up listening to really traditional country music and then they passed it along to their kids. A lot of people in Australia tell me their grandfather listened to Buck Owens when they were growing up – I knew there had to be a reason for it and it's a very good reason for it. It's been passed down very honestly. I think when you look at the culture in Australia, Australians remind me of Texans a lot. It's a very similar backdrop.”

Given location is such an enduring theme in his songs, can we expect an Australian song anytime soon? “I think that that's something that'll probably happen at some point,” he laughs. “I got a lot of songs about the south and songs about New York because I have a little more experience. I want to make sure I have all the information I need before I write an Australian song – I got a little more research to do.”