999,992: Justin Townes Earle — Who Am I to say

Any kid of Steve Earle is going to have something to prove if they want to follow in their father's footsteps. On his first album, Justin Townes Earle went out of his way to prove all kinds of shit jumping from style to style in a whirlwind tour of country music's past, each time subtley bending his voice to the task at hand and always sounding in complete control of the situation. But on an album full of high points, the song "Who Am I to Say" stands out for being the one where he takes on his old man. It's the kind of stripped to the bone sensitive fuck-up ballad that's served as the emotional lynch-pin for many a Steve Earle album. But where the older Earle might have taken this time to appear, hat in hand, to declare his love and apologize for all the wrong he's done, Justin gives us a eulogy for a relationship that can't resist one last chance to speak ill of the dead. Each verse starts out trying to make peace, but ends with the knife dug in just that much deeper than it was before.

Who Am I To Say - Justin Towne...