Americana singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, Steve Earle's son, dead at age 38

Justin Townes Earle, an award-winning Americana singer-songwriter and son to country-rock troubadour Steve Earle, has died at age 38.

"It is with tremendous sadness that we inform you of the passing of our son, husband, father and friend Justin," said a message posted Sunday evening to Justin Townes Earle's verified Facebook page. "So many of you have relied on his music and lyrics over the years and we hope that his music will continue to guide you on your journeys."

Brady Brock of New West Records, Justin Townes Earle's label, confirmed the death Sunday night. A cause of death was not given at time of publication.

Born Jan. 4, 1982, Justin Townes Earle — named after folk songwriter and his father’s friend Townes Van Zandt — was raised in Nashville by his mother, Carol Ann Hunter. As a teenager, he cut his teeth onstage with a weekly gig at Springwater Supper Club.

“I would play Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin’ Hopkins — blues standards — at Springwater,” he told roots tastemaker No Depression in 2017. “That was the goal: I wanted to be an acoustic blues guy.”

He first debuted solo music in 2007, signing to Bloodshot Records and releasing a debut EP, “Yuma.”

In 2008, he delivered his full-length album, “The Good Life” — an extended look into the rich realism he penned in songs that touched folk, blues, soul and country roots. Gaining ears with textured songs anchored by nuanced characters, Earle would soon stretch his storytelling to the Grand Ole Opry, Bonnaroo and Americana Music Awards, where he won Emerging Act of the Year in 2010.

"If you were born here, you've had access to everything from people like Guy Clark and even up to Elvis Costello," Earle told The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2009. "You can run across anybody in this town really easily. You also have the advantage of being really close to Memphis, really close to the Mississippi Delta, and really close to North Carolina.

“You're right in the middle of where every single bit of American music came from. You have an advantage — if you look for it, you can see the real thing. That stuff's really important."

His critical success continued in 2010 with third full-length “Harlem River Blues.” The album’s title track — a foot-stompin’ crossroads of rock ’n’ roll and soul that sings about drowning in the New York City river — earned song of the year honors at the 2012 Americana Music Awards.

Like his father, Justin Townes Earle struggled openly with addiction throughout much of his career. He began using drugs at age 14 and “by the time I was 16 I was completely off the rails,” he told No Depression.

During his solo career, Earle earned a decade of clean life before relapsing twice and finding sobriety again, per a 2017 interview with Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett. On Schiflett’s podcast, “Walking The Line,” Earle said that “I got all my craziness out of the way as a coffeehouse musician and a roadie.”

Earle regularly released music throughout the decade-plus that followed his debut effort; Nashville-based New West Records released his ninth and last studio album, “The Saint of Lost Causes,” in May 2019.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, Steve Earle's son, dead at 38