Paying homage to his late mentor Townes Van Zandt is a priority for singer-songwriter Steve Earle on his current solo acoustic tour.
Van Zandt, considered by many to be the finest songwriter in the long line of talented Texans, died at the age of 52 in 1997 from a heart attack, most likely brought on by years of alcohol abuse. His premature passing made him a bit of an icon, but for the wrong reasons.
No stranger to substance abuse himself, Earle acknowledges that there is some survivor guilt in play here.
"I have no idea why I got sober and he didn't," Earle said. "That's part of what fueled this record."
Earle's newest release is a tribute to Van Zandt simply titled "Townes," and it contains 15 of Van Zandt's powerful compositions. Twelve of the basic tracks were recorded in Earle's home, then later had band overdubs to flesh out the sound.
"I listened to Townes a lot in the 1970s," Earle said, "and wanted to emulate my memory of Townes' performances. I want people to hear what I heard."
Most of the tunes come from Van Zandt's early works.
"I started with 28 songs, then dropped the ones I had already recorded," Earle said. "It was a toss-up between 'If I Needed You' and 'No Place To Fall,' but Guy Clark just recorded 'If I Needed You,' so I took the other one."
There are many tales of Van Zandt's unorthodox "mentoring" techniques, such as heckling Earle from the audience and recommending books he had not even read.
But it was Van Zandt's artistry that secured his reputation.
"He was the best story-songwriter that ever lived," Earle said. "We were all in envy of his purely poetic territory. I'm getting a bit better at this in my middle age, writing more than just 'prose that rhymes' these days."
The always busy Earle has a handful of new projects in the works.
"I'm a songwriter, so every time I tried to start the Townes album something happened — planes flew into buildings, presidents did stupid things, and I had to write. I'm not a political songwriter, but I live in politically charged times."
By focusing on Van Zandt's work, Earle found the time to "almost" finish a novel about an unlicensed doctor who does illegal abortions, and he traveled with Hank Williams Jr. on his last tour. He also did some more acting, following his highly praised work on HBO's "The Wire."
He describes the new movie: "It's a Tim Blake Nelsen film called 'Leaves of Grass.' I play a bully who beats up Edward Norton twice, who plays twins. It's a comedy."
Concert
Steve Earle with special guest Joe Plug
8 p.m. Friday, June 12. $35, Atlanta Botanical Gardens, 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com
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