A tribute to his mentor and inspiration, Steve Earle takes his crack at the Townes Van Zandt songbook.  His personal connection to the man and the songs runs deep and something tells me this disc was a long time coming.

Towne’s Van Zandt’s songbook might as well be the Gospel as far as Steve Earle is concerned, and his reverence for the material is pretty clear on this disc.   The combination of Steve’s inspired performance, a very rich song book, and a killer band makes this a great release  Tim O’brien on mandolin, Darrell Scott on banjo, and Shad Cobb on fiddle make up the aforementioned killer band, and really work well with Earle’s stripped down acoustic guitar sound.

Given Van Zandt’s influence on Earle, it isn’t a surprise that this actually sounds like a Steve Earle record.  A great listen for hard core folkies and causal fans alike.