Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle on the Way
When Justin Townes Earle left us on August 20th, 2020, he left behind a musical legacy whose impact well surpassed his output of eight studio albums over ten years, or simply being yet another famous son of a well-known performer. The songs of Justin Townes Earle were the opening salvo and direct inspiration for the revolutionary strides that have been made in independent country and roots music over the last few years in the wake of his passing.
With his aching, painful delivery of poetically elegant songs ripped straight out of his own biography and smeared with tears and the residues of addiction, Justin Townes Earle embodied everything you wanted from the tragic troubadour holding on just enough to perform for you—all of it punctuated with the plucky, almost violent way he pulled at the lower strings of an acoustic guitar more akin to the clawhammer style inflicted on a banjo than the strums or fingerpicks accustomed to a six string.
Justin Townes Earle lived what he sang, and sang what he lived. Now his short, but propulsive and influential life will be chronicled in an authorized biography called What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome. Written by journalist Jonathan Bernstein who received the full cooperation of the Justin Townes Earle estate and Earle’s widow Jenn Marie, the 368-page biography will be released on January 13th, 2026.
The book is said to chronicle Justin Townes Earle’s period of long-term sobriety, along with his moments of relapse that ultimately led to his overdose death. It also tells the backstories behind some of Earle’s most landmark songs like “Mama’s Eyes” and “White Gardenias,” along with insight into the “shadow world of the neglected children of Nashville legends who wrestle with the legacies of their hard-living, road-weary, often absent parents.”
Justin Townes Earle was of course the son of alt-country legend Steve Earle, but Justin would go on to forge a legacy that continues to live on irrespective of the famous last name. And similar to the tragic story of Luke Bell who the music community also lost in 2022, the lessons from the Justin Townes Earle story are ones the entire music community needs to learn from and reckon with, making sure artists prone to mental health issues and addiction are cared for.
What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle is now available for pre-order.
October 2, 2025 @ 6:26 pm
So excited for this book. Bernstein’s Rolling Stone piece after JTE died was so good. To me it painted a realistic picture of Justin. The good and bad. Pain and joy. So much nuance. Can’t wait to read this b
October 2, 2025 @ 9:13 pm
Jason Isbell’s alleged UNauthorized audio-biography of J.T.E. was pretty good.
I think that told the story in sufficient detail in a tad under 4 minutes. An authorized unabridged deep-dive sounds like overkill..
October 2, 2025 @ 10:07 pm
As someone who’s privy to some of the JTE details not enumerated in public just yet, I’d say Jason Isbell’s oral history is woefully inefficient for giving the full scope of the story. But not dissimilar to any other subject, unless you’re really into Justin Townes Earle, 368 pages is going to be too much. But this book is not meant for you anyway.
October 3, 2025 @ 6:56 am
Trig, I have friends who have been really into JTE, Luke Bell, and other doomed youth. Is this book meant for them, and if so, what does that mean? 368 pages is a pretty extensive post-mortem for someone who died so young. Why do you think some people want that level of detail? I’m genuinely asking.
October 3, 2025 @ 7:06 am
I honestly don’t know much about this book beyond what is stated in this article. I have not seen any galley proofs or anything. I will try and get a copy when they’re available and potentially review it, or at least give a summation of it. There are two feature films being made about Luke Bell, and two short form documentaries that have already been released. There is a lot of interest in the stories of these individuals. Is there 368 pages of interest? I guess we’ll find out.
October 3, 2025 @ 10:58 pm
In my early 20s I had an obsessoin with reading biographies about Gram Parsons, who died even younger but there was plenty of material. His level of fame and success is pretty similar to JTE I think? Anyway I’m a much busier 40-year-old now; not sure if I’ll get around to this one.
October 3, 2025 @ 8:54 am
If I WERE interested in reading a whole book about Justin Townes Earle,the title of this one would be a turn-off from the start. Getting access to the subject’s private communications, etc. is fine, but a book is supposed to be the author’s.
Touting it as “The Authorized Biography” in the title seems to convey that maybe Justin’s widow had veto power over what got in and this will be a highly sanitized version of the story.
October 3, 2025 @ 9:08 am
Probably goes into Steve Earle at length, is my bet.
October 3, 2025 @ 12:25 pm
You cannot imagine what a loser you sound like or I’m sure you’d have spared us this gem of a comment. Pure class from an Isbell fan, per usual.
October 3, 2025 @ 10:51 am
Massively talented fellow. Got to see him live a few times and see that hypnotic picking style up close. He did love those parlor guitars. Recording King still has the JTE model in their guitar lineup. Its cheap but sounds good.
Apologies for repeating a story I’ve told before but it still haunts me.
930 club in Baltimore and this was just after he had been arrested for assault in a nightclub. He got out that week and was continuing his tour when I caught him. He told the audience that night about the assault, mentioned he was addicted to heroin, told us he probably should quit it, probably ought to check in to rehab, and mentioned his people wanted him to go to rehab, but then he looked out at us and said ” i don’t want to go to rehab ladies and gentlemen, I like doing drugs. And, im not going to quit, maybe someday but not tonite. With that the audience collectively howled and cheered as loudly as they could in approval. I was stunned. This audience was giving him support to keep using. I remember shaking my head in disbelief at that crowd. He ended that night in a big old sing- along of his hit Harlem River Blues, and the crowd sang every word, cheering. The song celebrates suicide. I left the show literally thinking, this guy’s gonna end up dead, he’s basically telling us that. Still haunts me.
October 5, 2025 @ 12:40 am
According to what’s been said and written about (and by) Steve Earle and his son, they’re coming from a long line of jerks, so it makes sense that they too act(ed) like jerks.
Despite all the tragedy that Justin brought upon himself and those around him, he left on a high note. He could’ve ended up sober with a smug, righteous Messiah complex, just like his father.
October 3, 2025 @ 11:45 am
I think I am the audience for this. Justin is still one of the most important performers in my life. My ex gf sent me his cd after she heard him open for a band at a show in Boston in 2010. She said I don’t like country music but I like this guy. That cd blew me away. He opened the gates for me into the world of indie and alt country at a time where I only really knew the mainstream. He’s the reason I visit this site every day. There’s a time I would have told you he was my favorite singer. Not the case anymore but I will always treasure his music and the impact it had on me
October 4, 2025 @ 6:37 am
Justin was for a while a favourite of mine but if its authorised i suppose jenni will offer an explanation on how she played that jason isbell to a child that yooung apparently knowing or believing it was about justin but didnt turn it off . And her upset with the song just bapped to coincide with the posthumous release of some Jte material but the offending song had been out ages. Whatever the fuss over the song Jenni jaed it for some bad parenting and a great PR stunt.
October 5, 2025 @ 5:17 am
Not sure what any of what you said has to do with a biography written about Justin’s life, but I followed that situation you are talking about surrounding the song Isbell wrote about Justin and his widow Jenn’s statement immediately followed an interview Jason gave where he said he knew there would be “victims” when writing the song (meaning her and her daughter) and that he didn’t care. It deserved a response. The posthumous release from wasn’t until a while later. I’m not even sure she was involved in that. That was his label and people Justin worked with.
And I don’t know why anyone, a child or not, shouldn’t be able to listen to a song they are mentioned in. That certainly doesn’t make her a bad mom or whatever you mean by saying that.
Either way, you should move on. This is a book written by a talented author for a great artist some of us miss very much. Adding this here is irrelevant, and quite frankly – just unnecessary and hateful.
October 5, 2025 @ 9:12 am
He was a great artist, he also killed himself by doing drugs leaving behind a young daughter so so you can of course applaud his talent but he wasted it . Also if we are talking about things being unnecessary and hateful, he used his own art to attack his own dad. Jenni wasnt even with Justin when he passed, they were estranged so perhaps her reaction to the song is her own guilt too.