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The simple arrangements and hands-off production add to the gentle but decisive impact of The Good Life, and the result is a fine calling card for a young singer/songwriter who may not have worked out every last detail of his sound but clearly knows where he's going, and it happens to be a place worth visiting.
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Though his father, Steve Earle, once vowed to climb on Dylan's coffee table to champion the late Townes Van Zandt, the next generation two-steps through such a musical minefield and turns out a winner with his Bloodshot Records debut, The Good Life.
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On his first full length record, The Good Life, Justin Townes Earle delivers the best debut roots music has seen since Old Crow Medicine Show hit the big time with "OCMS" in 2004.
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What elevates Good Life over, to pick the obvious parallels, Hank Williams III's Risin' Outlow and Shooter Jennings's Put the 'O' Back in Country is that Earle's debut isn't limited to simple retro-minded mimicry.
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The stylized, old-time country of 'Hard Livin’,' 'Ain’t Glad I’m Leavin’,' 'What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome' or 'Lonesome and You'--yes there’s a theme there--frees him to find glimmers of humor amid the plaints.
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Under The RadarWith its timelessness and craftmanship, The Good Life succeeds where The Wallflowers failed. [Spring 2008, p.85]