Steve Earle Townes 2LP (Clear Vinyl)

Steve Earle's 2009 Grammy award-winning album, Townes, is pressed on color vinyl for the first time.

Townes is Steve Earle's follow up to the Grammy® Award-winning album Washington Square Serenade. The 15-song set is comprised of songs written by Earle's friend and mentor, the late singer-songwriter, Townes Van Zandt.

The songs selected for Townes were the ones that meant the most to Earle and the ones he personally connected to. Some of the selections chosen were songs that Earle has played his entire career ("Pancho And Lefty", "Lungs", "White Freightliner Blues"). He learned the song "(Quicksilver Daydreams Of) Maria" directly from Van Zandt. Earle taught himself "Marie And Rake" specifically for making this record. Earle recorded the New York sessions solo and then added the other instruments later on in order to preserve the spirit of Van Zandt's original solo performances to the best of his recollection.

The track "Lungs" was produced and mixed by the Dust Brothers' John King, and features Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine on electric guitar.

"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." - Steve Earle

Earle made Townes' songs seem like an extension of his own last album, 2007's Washington Square Serenade. The same anything-goes-attitude, the adherence to all kinds of folk music, whether it's from across oceans, terrains, or alleyways, whether its roots are rural or urban, permeates this recording, making it an Earle record most of all; and that is about as fitting a tribute as there is to Van Zandt.