Justin Townes Earle

No matter how much deserved praise Justin Townes Earle receives for his roots revival–spiked with a little Memphis soul on his latest, Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now–the 30-year-old singer-songwriter just can’t escape the shadow of his father, country agitator Steve Earle. He has no one to blame but himself. The country scion’s strained relationship with his father is the most prominent of many strained relationships that inspire the conversely dark and joyful songs that inform the younger Earle’s musical over-sharing.