Hear Justin Townes Earle’s Melancholy Ballad ‘Faded Valentine’
While the first single, “Champagne Corolla,” off Justin Townes Earle‘s forthcoming LP Kids in the Street is a pedal-to-the-metal Memphis boogie, his newest song is a return to form – with a twist.
“Faded Valentine” conjures up Earle’s earlier days, when he’d slow down the cadence and let his rasp get soft and sticky in a relaxed country waltz or honky-tonk shuffle. But it’s also a little more lush instrumentally, thanks to production from Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, M. Ward), who invited Earle to his Omaha studio to make the LP. It’s the first time Earle has worked with an outside producer, and Mogis made sure to never trade spontaneity for polish. (Listen to the song below.)
Now living in Portland, Oregon, and signed to New West Records, Kids in the Street examines ideas of love and change – for the good, as Earle is now married and expecting a baby, and the bad, as he’s watched his hometown of Nashville trade character for condos. The follow-up to 2015’s Absent Fathers, Kids in the Street will be released May 26th, and will see Earle touring through summer with an upcoming stop at California’s Stagecoach Festival.