When Jason Isbell released the song “When We Were Close” on his 2023 album “Weathervanes,” it created some interest, and stirred some controversy since the song is about Justin Townes Earle.
In January, Rolling Stone music reporter Jonathan Bernstein released a book on the life of second generation singer/songwriter Justin Townes Earle called What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle. Beyond anything else, it’s worth praising this book as one of the best-written, best-researched, and best-presented biographies you will ever read on any musical performer. And don’t allow the “authorized” tag make you believe this book isn’t brutally honest and forthright about the life of Justin Townes Earle and those around him. It just happens to come with the stamp of approval from Earle’s immediate family. A full book report/review for What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome is forthcoming. But it felt important to zoom in on one of the many insightful moments the book includes since it dovetails with an important topic that has stirred some discussion in the past. When Jason Isbell released the song “When We Were Close” on his 2023 Grammy-winning album Weathervanes, it created some interest, and stirred some controversy since the song is about the friendship of the two singer/songwriters—a friendship that eventually fell apart. Justin Townes Earle’s widow and mother to his daughter, Jenn Marie Earle, took exception to the song, especially how she hadn’t received prior notice to it, and how unbeknownst to the somewhat graphic nature of it, she played it for her daughter.
But how did the friendship between Justin Townes Earle and Jason Isbell fall apart? Early on, they were “close” as the song says, touring together, and becoming close confidants as they both worked through issues with addiction. When they started out, Justin was opening for Isbell. Then for a spell, Isbell was opening for Justin, and performed on guitar for Justin when he was invited to play The Late Show with David Letterman. Then the chairs switched again after Isbell released his landmark album Southeastern in 2013. But it wasn’t a professional rivalry that caused friction between the two. Around 2010, a younger woman named Lauren Spratlin was brought on as Justin Townes Earle’s tour manager. She was hired onto Justin’s team by Earle’s then overall manager Traci Thomas, who also happened to be managing Jason Isbell. By 2011, Earle and Lauren Spratlin were in a serious romantic relationship. By 2012, Amanda Shires had replaced Joshua Hedley as the fiddle player for Justin Townes Earle. Isbell and Shires married in 2013, and Earle purchased a 3-piece Billy Reid suit for Isbell for the occasion. So to say the business and personal affairs of Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle were deeply intertwined is an understatement if anything. In January of 2013—a month before Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires were to be married—Justin Townes Earle proposed to Lauren Spratlin by throwing an engagement ring in her lap as they were driving to the airport. Spratlin was confused at first, and eventually said “no,” having experienced Earle’s uglier side and emotional outbursts. Then they had to go on tour with each other in Australia right after. Justin Townes Earle and Lauren Spratlin officially broke up in the spring of 2013, and Spratlin obviously stopped being Earle’s tour manager too. Shortly thereafter, Jason Isbell then hired Spratlin to be his tour manager. “You’re not a loyal friend,” was Earle’s assessment of the situation. “He just got really mad about it … He’ll get over it,” was Isbell’s assessment on the Marc Maron podcast at the time. But Justin Townes Earle never did get over it. “He viewed Isbell’s hiring of Spratlin, and his seeming siding with her after their ugly breakup, as the ultimate betrayal,” says Jonathan Bernstein in the biography. “There were certainly other complicating factors that ultimately impacted their abrupt split; the difficulty of maintaining a relationship between two friends with histories of addiction when one person (Isbell) gets completely sober; the competition between two headstrong entertainers as Isbell, whose breakthrough, ‘Southeastern,’ was released during this exact period, became far more successful than Justin…”
There was an effort at reconciliation. As explained in Chapter 19 of the biography, “In September 2014, they both appeared at a festival in Cincinnati. With their buses parked next to one another, Justin’s bandmates, who were friends with both Justin and Isbell, spent the day going from one bus to the other trying to negotiate a truce, or at least persuade the former friends to talk. Their effort failed.”When Justin Townes Earle died on August 20th, 2020, he had never made peace with Jason Isbell. Though Isbell’s efforts with his song “When We Were Close” seemed to be in good faith, the ill will that still persisted between the two came back into focus. There were many tragedies that presented themselves when Justin Townes Earle passed away in 2020 due to accidental fentanyl overdose. The lack of a reconciliation in the friendship between Isbell and Earle is one of them. Both these men helped raise Americana out of the shadows of popular music.Jason Isbell has received plenty of credit for this accomplishment, and rightfully so. Justin Townes Earle rarely does, even though he was very much the one who seeded the appeal, and opened the doors for artists like Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and others. The biography What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome underscores this, and hopefully, helps establish this truth in the greater musical consciousness.Purchase: What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome
Man, I’m sorry. I don’t want to pick on a widow of all freaking things, but I have the world’s tiniest violin for folks who provide media/entertainment to their child and then get all huffy about it’s “content” when they haven’t even screened it themselves prior.
This is why we are having these stupid age-verification laws passed around the country, because parents are too damn lazy to monitor the content their child(ren) are consuming.
Anyway, to the crux of this article – I for one am shocked (shocked I say!) that people with substance abuse issues are messy in their relationships. Hell, plenty of sober people are messy in their relationships – now add substances into it and yikes.
I remember Trigger had a several part series on this at the time when “When we were close came out.” I ultimately came to kind of the same conclusion that it while I understand JTEs wife’s frustration, ultimately Jason is allowed to remember JTE or even envision his death how he sees it as the musician, and that accusing Isbell of doing nothing for JTEs family when Isbell headlined a benefit concern with Steve for JTE was disingenuous. But alas it sounds like that episode isnt covered in the book.
For the record, I didn’t run a “series” of articles about it. I ran an article when Justin’s widow addressed the issue publicly. Then she reached out to me and I did a follow up interview about it. Also, it was about 10 months after the song was released, not immediately after. What stimulated the discussion was an interview with Isbell where he said the song would have “victims.”
I don’t think anyone is claiming Jason Isbell can’t synthesize his thoughts in song about Justin Townes Earle. All Jenn Marie said is it might have been nice to be given some warning, or perhaps, and apology after it blindsided her and her daughter. That seems reasonable to me.
How is a post and a follow up not a series? Also isnt there the caveat that Isbell did run the song by Steve and was taken aback when he was accused of not sharing it because of that?
To me, a “series” is two or more of something. I’m not jumping your butt, I just don’t think that’s a fair way to characterize it. Yes, Isbell had checked with Steve Earle previously, and maybe Earle should have reached out to Jenn. Honestly, I don’t really care to go back and re-litigate that matter. This is more about what happened leading up to the situation, not after. I linked to both of the articles I published on it in the article, so people can go back and read all of that information as opposed to going back and forth about the details here.
Also, I don’t know that Isbell’s appearance at the tribute is covered in the book. I still have to read the final few chapters.
It is a series. Our “authority” on country music from the suburbs of Dallas “Trigger” just can’t stop cucking for the right-wing corporate country pop machine that hates Isabell.
Fair enough. Also worth noting ive seen Jason Isbell w and w/o the 400 5 times since Weathervanes came out, and never once has Jason played “when we were close” when I went, despite it having some decent satellite radio play when it first came out.
I have no idea how much Isbell has played it recently. He didn’t play it when I saw him last year. But it was actually released as a featured single around the release of “Weathervanes,” so it’s not like it was hidden.
My guess is that Jason Isbell does not believe that it would have made any difference if he had given Jenn Marie Earle a “warning,”–She would have been irate over the song, just the same–and he doesn’t believe her story about her and JT Earle’s daughter being blindsided and traumatized by the song.
[Six-year-olds–that’s how old she was at the time–listen to “Skip to My Lou” and “Yor Are My Sunshine” (the cheery chorus, not the sad verses) I don’ think any oft them could decipehr “When We Were Close.”]
I’ve seen the interviews with Jason where he talks about the balances and the song needing to be written–and he came off as somerthing of an insufferable, self-important oaf. But I listened to the song, and it was very good. And it actually elevated JT Earle in my eyes. Before hearing the song, I thought JT Earle was just a guy who turned out to be a slob and a druggie and killed himself.
The song portrayed him as an intelligent man, a sharp dresser, a good musician and writer, and someone who Isbell looked up to and was even jealous of, when they started out. Someone with even star quality. Hearing the song induced me to order JT Earle’s “Harlem River Blues” from the e-shopping site and listen to it all the way through.
Jenn Earle came across as agrandisiing and entitled and quick to blame everyone after Justins’ death. She quickly stepped into the limelight as a publicly grieving Widow, which did not sit well with Fans, especially since her and Justin had been separated the year prior. She totally alienated and attacked Amanda and Joshua Wilkins on an Instagram tribute post on Amandas’ page which was quickly taken down. Jenn took offense at Amanda making some inside joke about Justin’s Kambucha drinks and then said her and Joshua would be toasting Justin with a few Bourbons and Jenn over reacted saying How dare they toast Justin with alcohol as that was what contributed to his death et.al Really they were not on good terms so why would she expect Jason to reach out about a Song that had nothing to do with her? Also as Fans commented on Reddit thread, her daughter was 3 or 4 at the time of Justins’ death and what would she even understand at that age? Prior to tracking that Song, Jason ran it by Steve Earle he mentioned at the time, so if her in-laws didn’t feel it necessary to alert her, so be it. She initially was slagging Steve off as well and complaining about no one helping her with Justins’ mountain of debt she was left with. Very quickly she set up a Go Fund me for herself and it appeared that the Earles reached some kind of an arrangement with her because thereafter publicly facing they seemed to be on good terms. The point being is that there was alot of fingerpointing and blaming from Jenn Earle that did not seem to be fairly justified. Que Sera Sera
One thing here is hard to compute Jenna states that her (and Justn’s then- 6-year-old daughter was brought to tears by a short song seemingly about her father, the worst of which was a stanza that went:
“I saw a picture of you laughing with your child/ And I hope she will remember how you smiled/ But she probably wasn’t old enough, the night somebody sold your stuff/ That left you on the bathroom tiles.”
That’s it.
If that’s so, then how’s she going to react (when she’s old enough to understand it to a 300-page tome, authorized by her mother, that gives blow-by-blow details of her father’s descent to the bottom and maybe details the state of her parents’ marriage, as well.
The book seems like a hundred times bigger of an invasion of privacy and inducer of pain than the song–especially because the book was authorized by her mother.
Why is she even playing the song for her daughter. It’s not like she was going to stumble upon in while listening ito it while streaming her favorite Americana station while playing tea or finger painting. This is am issue about someone being mad that their husband died and taking it out o anyone around her . Finding reasons to be mad at peope instead of the one true person she should be pissed at. I k know that’s easier as and them dem but she could’ve of jus said I wish he has told me the song was hard for me to hear and will be one day for my daughter as well. But I also understand that since Jason and JTE hadn’t talked I yeats he would t know his new wife and would have no relationship with her.Going to the mans actual father to get his blessing seem like more than enough to me. Art is supposed to invoke emotion and that’s what the song does. It’s a beautiful yet sad story of 2 friends falling out and not being able to reconcile before the other does. She’d have an argument if Isbell had done a song that wasn’t an a song about a his relationship with a musician he respected and obviously cared for enough to write a tribute to him. If also sounds like JTE’s wife thinks Jason is trying to capitalize financially off his death when that wasn’t the case. Di she fell she deserved an ethic for being mentioned I the song which I forgot sje was.
I can’t express enough how uninterested I am in re-litigating how Etta heard the song, or what Jenn should or shouldn’t have done. She heard there was a tribute song, put it on in the car, it was graphic, and they were caught off guard. It happened. I don’t think it’s out-of-bounds to say someone should have warned them, either Isbell or Steve Earle, or could have apologized afterwards. That’s what you do when you hurt someone, however inadvertently. But it’s over. The point of this article was to fill in the other details preceding the song.
Why would Jason Isbell owe Jenn Earle the consideration of notice prior to the Songs’ release or any apology thereafter? Jenn was very acrimonious with regards to the falling out of the Isbell/Shires/Branan/JTE friend circle over Lauren Spratlin situation.
Further Jason and Amanda were very supportive of Steve Earles Fundraiser for Justin & Jenns’ daughter with proceeds goingvin Trust for her education. Further they both have played for annual Keswell School Benefit by Steve for his youngest Son John Henry, his youngest Son with Alison Moorer.
If Jason and Steve have a friendly relationship and Jason was respectful enough to have Steve vett the Song in question, it was Steves’call as to whether or not Jenn needed a “heads/up”. Unfortunately at that time Jenn was giving interviews and very vocally disparaging Steve Earle for throwing benefit for Ettas’ Education Trustfund, but not helping with huge medical debt incurred by Justins health issues prior to his death. After Steve and eldest son Ian Dublin Earle were thanking Fans but vetoing offers to set up a Go Fund Me for Justins’ Funeral et al. as the Earles, would be taking care of it including transporting JTE back to Texas to be buried at the Historic Earle Church , next to JTEs’ Papa Earle, Steves’ Father, they seemed to have been caught unaware as very quickly Jenn Earle set up a Go Fund Me for herself which Fans were circulating was a hoax/scam as it was absolutely contrary to the Earle Familys ‘ public address the week earlier. Her Go Fund Me only raised a very nominal amount ~far from the largesse of her goal( unsurprising as Jenn had alienated the bulk of JTEs’ Fans at that point ). She left it up for over many months , constantly updating and essentially begging Fans to step forward to the point of Fans questioning why she wasn’t Working to support herself as she had publicly done many PR interviews regarding her specifically patented Olympic level reformer Pilates/Physio Studio in Utah which she opened and ran for several years prior to and then continuing into their marriage . Coupled with people in Portland whom were posting photos of her and Justins’ beautiful home in a nicer area of the City that she mentioned very publicly they had purchased with huge profits from Real Estate cycle re: their Northern California Beach property. Fans weren’t feeling sorry because all of a sudden the narrative had dramatically shifted; “the math wasn’t mathing” to that of her being a financially destitute, grieving Widow. None the less, her inability to manipulate the hearts and minds of Justins ‘ Fans seemed to yield better results via putting public pressure on the Earle Family to step up and and acquiesce to her demands . A year after Justins’ death there were photos of her and Steve and Ian with her and her daughter when Steve was touring near them; apparently everybody made nice no doubt so there would be a somewhat friendly Family dynamic for the Earles going forward in order to have an ongoing relationship with Steves’ Grandaughter Etta This was well documented on many back and forths in various Sub-reddits at the time, and her own SM feeds before she blacked them out.
Jenn Earle alienated many of JTEs’ Family /Friends/Mgmt/Fans, anyone whom had been part of his inner circle prior to her marrying him, and considering that she and JTE had been separated over a year prior to his death, why would there be any expectation that Jason Isbell try and give her notice or even more astounding proffer an apology after the fact? Now in light of her tell all in the new Biography regarding their marriage and the depths of Justins’ addiction, the hypothesis of one song with a line or two referencing Justins death going to traumatize her daughter when she grows up does not meet the burden of proof. Her railing against Jason and his song “When we were Close” did not age well;((
I think it more done as a PR stunt as well, it took ten months for Jenni to get upset with the song and it also tied in with the release of a set of posthumous Justin townes earle recordings. It got a bit of publicity.
This was covered in the original article about this. The reason Jenn brought it up when she did is because in an interview, Jason Isbell said the song had created “victims” (his words), and he decided the victims it created was worth the message of the song. I think that also speaks to how Isbell saw the song. Also, someone left a comment in the original review I did of “Weatervanes” about it, and I have been looking into the story for months prior.
It was more complex than its made out.
If I recall correctly, the mother knew of the song’s content and had a deep discussion with her daughter before letting her hear it.
And face the ugly truth: the daughter already knew the story. Reality is crueler than any graphic song or movie.
And no, age verification laws are because massive companies are spending billions oj working out the most devious, sneaky and evil ways to keep people on their sites.
My generation’s parents let us drive the farm truck with no seatbelts and let us go off on weekend camping trips with people we only kind of knew.
And now you expect every parent to monitor everything a kid does even in their own room. Especially when billions are spent on making the addition as hard as possible to see.
“If I recall correctly, the mother knew of the song’s content and had a deep discussion with her daughter before letting her hear it.”
“I did not receive a compassionate warning ahead of the song’s release (we found out about the song, when this page was tagged in posts about it the day it came out). While it’s not mandatory that he give me a heads up, considering it’s about my husband and mentions myself, and especially my daughter, it would have been a respectful thing to do, so that we weren’t completely blown apart when we heard it as it was celebrated as a new release.”
As a reply to what songs 6 year olds hear….. I was raised on bluegrass and Bob Dylan, I knew all about murdering songs, corruption and war when I was 6.
Polly Vaughn was such a pretty song to sing.
And the one about the girl slighted by The Butcher Boy, where the dad goes upstairs to give her hope, and finds her hanging by a rope?
Bluegrass has a higher body count than hip hop
Cause they don’t. If you want to combat “doom scrolling” and blackbox algorithms addicting people to the platforms, age verification does nothing about that.
All it is going to do is lead people to either upload their information to a database that will inevitably be hacked OR seek out websites/platforms that skirt the age verification laws that end up somehow being even worse than the platforms owned by Meta, TikTok, etc.
And blocking websites is really not that hard. I have a network-wide DNS service that – should I choose to do so – blocks all access to Facebook, TikTok, Snap, Adult content, etc.
Harsh truth is a lot of parents are lazy and just want the Government to solve their issues. When in reality, age verification will not fix ANY cyber bullying or online sexual exploitation – all it will do is lead to even more data breaches than we already have and/or the government being able to create even more databases on citizens than they already have.
You’re evidently something of a computer “geek”–which is fine.
Lots of parents are not. In fact, many of them have to go to their kids to set up anything on their computer–to stream video or log into virtual meetings, etc.
Setting up a system-wide blocker is as simple as watching a YouTube video. It does not require any sort of coding, going into the command line of your computer, etc.
Watch a YouTube video and boom – no more little Timmy sneaking onto TikTok for 8 hours after school.
I’m sorry, but I’m tired of parents laziness to reign in their kids social media consumption combined with politicians who can barely power on their computer due to serving in government into their 80’s and 90’s trying to make tech policy.
The Federal government responding to “moral panic” rarely results in anything good spinning out of it. If you want kids to be less depressed, do something about income inequality so more kids can participate (financially) in activities that involve literally touching grass and hold Meta and Twitter/X and other social media platforms responsible for devising algorithms that are actively harmful to society.
Age-verification is the laziest way to try and address this problem and won’t be effective anyway. Which I guess, sums up our entire system of governance these days, but that is neither here nor there.
“and hold Meta and Twitter/X and other social media platforms responsible for devising algorithms that are actively harmful to society.”
If you pass a low that “holds Meta and Twitter/X and other social media platforms responsible” for producing a product/service that’s “actively harmful to society”–whatever that may mean–the first thing they’ll probably do is impose age-verification gatekeeping on sites that might be deemed harmful.
I can’t imagine the pain JTE’s wife was/is going through, but I agree the whole stink she made about her daughter hearing that song was pretty ridiculous. Like, even if we fully accept her version of events, I can’t understand how we’re supposed to view Jason Isbell as the bad guy for her deciding to play the song, written by a notoriously honest and brutal songwriter with whom her late husband had a complicated and ultimately broken relationship, for her daughter without first giving it a listen. Sucks for everyone involved, but come on.
I agree with the crux of this…but I will say that the age verification laws are coming in because social media is expressly designed to be addictive.
Hmmm…really don’t think so as Justin was vocal about everything being fair game as far as Song material. Ironically, I don’t think Justin would have had the same expectation as Jenn did re Jason’s song.
He was asked when he released Mamas Eyes if he ran it past his Dad first and he said not at all, but that it was his art and truth and/was mutually exclusuive from his relationship with Steve. Also in that same vein he wrote about his friends and past relationships without the thought of vetting his art prior to putting it out in the World.
Like Single Mothers and Absent fathers, they were song titles actually aimed at his father, there was no apology for that, there was no apology offered to Steve for artistic license there. Some of Steves absentism apart from his career would have been drugs too but it didnt stop Justin taking them. Steve also got clean though and crap father as he might have been in Justin’s youth its documented that Steve tried very hard to get JTE off drugs himself.
This book covers and clears up SO MUCH of the Steve/Justin relationship, including highlighting how Steve was “never there” is deserving of much more context. No doubt Steve was a bad father at times. You know, being married 7 times and smoking crack. But he also did a ton for Justin.
It is a series. Our “authority” on country music from the suburbs of Dallas “Trigger” just can’t stop cucking for the right-wing corporate country pop machine that hates Isabell.
bro code is also lame and completely ignores a woman’s agency. despite what they tell you, you do not have to completely cut a woman out of your life because your bro messed up a relationship.
Also – alot of ppl don’t know this – but if the bro is a real POS, you can just ditch him, and keep the bassist.
I love both JTE and Jason Isbell’s music, and listen to them both probably daily. But in truth you have two brilliant artists that can (or could) never seem to get out of their own way. Im sorry this happened between them, but it alas is not surprising, as it seems both of them seemed like people who struggle with maintaining long term friendships
I’m most excited about trigger suggesting this is a truly exceptional book. I’m excited. Justin Townes Earle will always be one of my favorites. There was a time I would have said he was my all time favorite. Even if that’s no longer true his music will always be special to me
The book is incredible, and I’ll have more on it soon. I just wanted to get this information out into the public as opposed to have it bog down my review for the book, just because this issue had been addressed here before.
I still cannot listen to When We Were Close and not chuckle about the absurdity of the whole “controversy.” Much ado about nothing.
Basically the upset was caused by bad parenting youd listen to the song before you played it to your daughter and if it was too upseting for you then it might not be for your daughter. But Justin and his wife were separated when he died, so its probably more about the pain of Justin throwing his life away then any anguish caused by a song. I miss Justin’s presence more than anyone and not even becoming a parent could save him.
Yeah, I think her point that she would have wanted a heads up about the song before it was released was valid, but playing it for her daughter was her own mistake when there was such a high chance of it being upsetting
My condolences to the Earle family. I’ve only recently discovered the eloquent beauty in Justin’s music. Such a tragedy to lose such a talented musician. Thank you Justin.
I don’t think anyone would know what this song is about without Justin’s widow telling us what it is about. At least not for sure. Maybe Isbell told us too and I missed it? But I am a big Isbell fan and an Earle fan as well. I have now read both of these stories about the song. And still when I go look at the lyrics I would have no idea what it is about. Long way of saying the poor widow probably brought all this on herself.
I thought it was pretty obvious that it was about Justin Townes Earle, but I won’t hold it against someone else for saying they didn’t.
The point of this article was not to re-litigate “When We Were Close.” It was to shout out the new biography, and explain how the two went from close friends to estranged. I kind of surprised people seem completely uninterested in those two points, and go back and make the same old points about the song again.
I knew it was about him with the line about breaking a string and finishing the set w five. Justin had a very particular way of playing guitar.
It was always baffling that Trigger and others tried to somehow make this Isbell’s fault, that he’s not allowed to write a song (with fictional lyrics) about someone he knew.
His widow married a well known drug addict, someone who had been in an out of rehab since he was a young teenager, and decided to procreate with a junky and keep their young child around him too. All of her faux anger at Isbell is clearly just a desperate attempt to get attention and or money. Pure loser shit. She probably a junky too.
Even sadder that in the throws of being a junky loser Justin appears to have been incapable of realizing someone can be a good tour manger and not want to marry an emotionally immature drug addict. Sounds like typical nepo baby behavior, wealthy and given opportunities they weren’t deserving of far too young and they spiral out of control the second life gets real.
Can we also stop the whole “he stole Justin’s fame” schtick? Isbell was playing major network TV with the Truckers years before Justin had done anything. There’s a reason an established band hired a fresh out of high school nobody, they knew he was a relented songwriter and guitar player, unlike you know, being Steve Earle’s kid.
I’ve never seen anyone claim that Jason Isbell stole Justin Townes Earle’s fame except in your comment, and if I ever had, I would bristle at it and refute that claim.
My main point about Jason Isbell was he should have made sure Jenn Marie was notified, and/or maybe apologize. That would have been the rational, human thing to do.
I don’t appreciate the way you throw the term “Junky” around. There are a lot of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, struggling with addiction.
There are a lot of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers struggling with addiction so if a song raises that issue and the price people pay from it surely thats a good thing.
Alas… .does not a complete picture paint; every person is a composite and complex Rubiks cube of labels defining them to the outside world. JTE was so much more and his musical legacy will live on to a listening audience generations down the road.
You are a vile human being. You have no compassion, no grace. It’s so easy to dismiss someone as a “junky”. Put some work in. You have no understanding of the science of addiction. You’ve mentioned your religious beliefs before. I assume your views are in sync with them. In reality, you rationalize. I hope that no one you care about ever has any addiction/mental health issues. Not for your sake, but for their’s.
He was a junky. Pretending otherwise doesn’t change that core fact. Just like a bank robber is a thief.
At the end of the day, he chose to engage with drugs. JTE’s decision should serve as a cautionary tale to people. The life of a tortured artist and junky, while described as romantic, is disastrous.
My take is more compassionate because I see reality for what it is. A harsh truth is better than a candy-coated lie.
You dont think that most people under the influence of drugs and alchohol arent vile human beings then? Thats why they lose friendships and loved ones along the way because they are normally looking for their next joint and that normally involves manipulating loved ones into giving them money or even stealing off people. Im sure the books under detail some horrible behaviour frim justin. I mean asking somene to marry you by throwing their wedding ring at soneone is vile and disgusting for one.
To think that a true physically dependent addict, with other menatal health issues, can simply stop using if they want, is absurd. There is so much more involved. To equate a mentally ill person with physical dependency to a drug, to a psychologically stable person who chooses to rob a bank, is also absurd. You are not compassionate, nor Christ-like. Life is so easy when you see the world in black and white. Again, i feel for your loved ones.
I’ve got my issues with Isbell, but this reads like a complete exoneration where the issue was one party being childish.
I bought this book over the weekend and have just started reading it but it has me hooked already. Justin seems kinda doomed from the beginning.
Justin Townes Earle will always be one of my absolute favorites. That other guy just does nothing for me. He just bores me to tears.
The funniest thing is that he didnt bore Justin to tears though, Justin admired Jasons music as much anybody elses ok sharing a drugs addiction may also have been a reason for their friendship too but Jason was so boring he even played on probably Justin’s best album .
Justin had no right to dictate to Jason who he remains friends with , that can happen too normal friendships though but imagine the paranoia route being addicted to drugs can take you down. Justin had umpteen opportunities to get clean ironically a lot of that in the later stages was with his dad by his side not even becoming a father helped with that.
A song like the one Isbell wrote could actually help someone with a drug addiction because the basic message of the song is I got through my own addictions and I wish you had too. Its an upsetting song if you were close to it but by this time Jenn and Justin were separated so even she didnt have the hope there that Justin was going to get through things, even the love of a woman and fatherhood didnt stop Justin pulling from the brink. He had help and support and love offered to him and even that couldnt save him, but if a song could save someone then thats a positive thing. I reckon the upset of the song is more that Justin should still be with us now making music he had everything too live for .
I bet most people who know an opioid addict, especially heroin and fentanyl, get how this relationship went sour.
Heroin addicts can effortlessly betray the closest people in their lives. They can do if often and without remorse. It’s a consequence of the drug, it seems, not the underlying person.
That makes it sometimes impossible to deal with them, even for family. This is all speculation but I can imagine Earle doing really nasty things to and around Lauren. This would probably seem worse to her if she wasn’t using as well, which it seems she wasn’t. I’ve never seen another person “fix” an opioid addict.
So add in sober Jason, Amanda and the friendship and professional relationship with Lauren and you can see how this happened.
Not to mention that Jason seems to have a holier than thou affect, plus the newfound sobriety than can exacerbate that.
Once again, mostly speculation but none of this seems that surprising to me. I’ve had extensive dealings with opioid addicts yet never liked them myself.
I should clarify that I’ve never liked opiates, so I don’t have personal experience with dependency. I didn’t mean that I’ve never liked addicts.
Relationships are hard. Throw in addiction. Throw in relative youth of everyone involved. Plus, these guys lived on the road. No way I could. When your personal space between shows ranges from a bunk on a bus, to a hotel room, to your own bus. There’s an old Jessie Winchester song, a Showan’s Life, that nails it. Both of these guys played out their perspective on life through their music.
I have been wanting to say this for a long time, Again ; like someone said, I don’t want to “pick on a widow” but she was just trying to get attention or lash out for the sake of her pain and lack of control of the situation; in other words she was completely out of pocket with her tirade!
To give my 2 cents… they were both addicts and friends long before she was in the picture. Also, “weathervane” was heavily influenced by pain, and abuse and trauma and addiction. Something a artist should and can write about. It was not only his expression but his right to speak his truth and freely!! He was there. The song is poetic and beautiful and clearly shows that he missed his friend. Was upset “he no longer had to look him in the eye “ but at the same time gave him the credit for being a guitarist of force and his talent . As well, that line “and for a minute there, youre still alive”….anybody who has ever lost a loved one or friend or dog; when you get a flashback of remembering… its the warm feeling and smile until realizing that they are still dead. No higher tribute in my opinion… as far as her daughter and the mention of drugs? This is the biggest pile of S because we all knew the cause. Anyone can watch his tower records set on YouTube where he talks about being high on Cocaine and other events where he would throw a comment about it or even hint if anyone would share…not to mention the xm radio show that his father hosts that when he was a guest… they talked about their mutual drug dealer… in other words; like every other kid in America she was able to and would have heard about it from his own mouth and everyone else’s if she looked .. in this case she played a song herself and then blamed the artist? The whole thing is ridiculous as it tragic
Started this audiobook last night. Got an hour in before I ran out of Spotify hours for the month. I’ll definitely finish it. Great listen so far.
JI is the kind of guy that hires your ex to go on tour. Not surprising. He’s also the guy who will throw his other close friend Ryan Adams under the bus for some me too points when the whole world was coming down on him. Mind you.. RA was instrumental in helping JI get sober. Isbell is a great songwriter and musician. Not really a great friend.
Right well reading that it sounds like they split because of Justin’s erratic behaviour due to drug use. throwing an engagement ring at someone is hardly romantic is it? And if I was friends with both of them and it was mainly Justin’s drug use that caused it, then that makes it far more complicated than “JI hiring your friends ex” because if Lauren was a good manager and your friend under the influence of drug addiction behaved like a complete ass towards her thats Justin’s fault not hers. As for Ryan Adams im sure most of his friends would have distanced themselves from his behaviour again self inflicted.
So many people are commenting on something they’ll likely never experience themselves. Imagine a popular musician, someone who used to be a friend of your spouse, going on late-night TV and singing a song about them after being estranged for over ten years. In that song he mentions you and your spouse’s daughter, whom he’s never met, and even implies your spouse died on the floor when that isn’t what happened.
She is completely justified in being disturbed by that, even if Etta hadn’t heard it-she could have not heard it and it and Jenn would still be justified to be upset and disturbed.The way people feel entitled to dictate how a widow should grieve, separated or not, they were not divorced & they were still married and commenting on how she should speak about the life of her husband and the father of her child, is honestly appalling. Grow up. I hope you never have to feel the pain of losing someone you love this way & for it to be alive forever on a popular album with no regard for your feelings or even a warning.
Having lost a partner myself, I know how strong the urge is to protect their memory and the people they loved who are still here. She is allowed to holler ans loud as she wants and comment on what she would like pertaining to her family.
If you haven’t lived it, maybe think twice before judging. Your opinions on how a widow should grieve are irrelevant.
ALSO some of ya are just being assholes. Justin deserved love and the chance to have a family despite his hardships. He had periods of being clean and sober. And he deserved love.
It really sucks that you read Justin’s biography and the first thing you thought to do was write an article about…Jason Isbell. Re-stirring a drama that was best left alone. This comments section is completely vile, and you knew it would be.
Jason Isbell (and his song) sucks. If Jason got to write a song, Jenn Marie had a right to make a statement about it. Some of you really need to get a f***ing life.
For the record, this was the first outlet to address Jen Marie’s issue with Jason Isbell’s song, and the only outlet to interview her personally about the matter. This is not an article about Jason Isbell. It’s an article about the relationship between Justin Townes Earle and Jason Isbell that I wanted to highlight outside of the book review proper. If you want to read the full book review, it can be found here:
Also, yes, the comments did turn into an attack on Jenn Marie. No, I did not know that would happen, and as can be seen in numerous comments, am disappointed that is the direction the comments went.
Trigger, you are acquainted with Isbell’s toxic fans more than most (especially when it comes to this topic). Unless you are completely dense, you knew how this would turn out. And it’s not just Jenn Marie they are attacking.
Can’t believe I thought this article was about Isbell. It only names him (first) in the title and has a picture of him. Semantics, but I guess I should be, instead, congratulating you on your top notch journalism.
I appreciate your criticism of this article. I also recognize the validity of it. I recognized it in my first response to you, and in other comments before you even piped up. What I don’t agree with and don’t appreciate is that I wrote it for “clicks.” The actual reason I wrote it is because I wanted to enter the official story of why Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle had a falling out into the public record to stamp down on rumor, and to highlight what I believe is an excellently-written book. I also didn’t want to just bury this info in the book review itself, which was already excessively long. I agree this comments section didn’t go well. That doesn’t mean the article didn’t. Most people don’t even read the comments.
Source: savingcountrymusic.com