A book that smells of male sweat, male privilege, barrooms, drug-dens, music venues and cigarette smoke. I’m not sure I liked What Do You Do When You Are Lonely, mainly because I’m not sure I liked Justin Townes Earle very much, which isn’t Jonathan Bernstein’s fault, as this is a very well written music biog, but, ffs, it’s a story as old as an abused septum in a musician’s nose. It’s an authorised biography which means a lot of repellent behaviour is either alluded to or not deemed fit for the general reader’s consumption. Which is understandable. And although it’s an old story, sibling of famous Dad, becomes as fucked up as Dad, but unlike Dad doesn’t have the wherewithal to survive, Justin Townes Earle had an awareness that grabs the cynical and fatigued rock book reader by the throat. Compelling, but depressing. The life a continual up and down, family neglect, a misunderstanding of what real life is about not helped by the drink and drugs he was imbibing from a very early age. His Dad’s myth providing the inspiration for him to be a very good musician and songwriter, but to be a less than perfect human being. Touring, his enemy and his friend, bad for the body, but good for the soul, recognising that, “Everything between the guitars was dark”: normal life not possible when too much thinking and self-examination filled the void, a void that could be ignored for as long as the drink and drugs were available. Of course, there’s was a price to pay and this is the story of that price. A sad music biog, told well.

What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome (The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle) by Jonathan Bernstein

publ. by Da Capo £25 

Steven Long