The Official Country Music Thread Genre • Page 107

JTE was one of the biggest reasons I got into country music again. I randomly saw him open for The Swell Season years ago at the Ryman and I very specifically remember him playing the song Midnight at the Movies and thinking “that’s one of the best country songs I’ve heard in years.” I was lucky enough to see him 5 or 6 more times over the years and even though I hadn’t loved his last few albums as much as some of his earlier ones, I was always still blown away watching him perform. He was the real deal.

 

His newer stuff doesn't have the same poignance of his early work but every one of his records except the Single/Absent duo have struck a deep chord with me. Saint of Lost Causes especially had some truly incredible songs on it

"Movies" and "Harlem" are two of the best records ever made though

 

This one hurts. There’s always those records that find you on the exaxt day you need them, Midnight at the Movies was one of those for me.

 

Man I loved watching him play.

 

OH?

 

Stapleton been listening to QOTSA during quarantine, huh

 

lol

 

Sign me the fuck up for whatever that is.

 

lol jfc i hope that's a troll account

 

I'm still unbelievably sad about Justin and I don't think that's going to go away for a long time

 

Same. I don't remember the last time, if ever, the death of someone famous/someone I didn't know personally hit me this hard.

 

I've been thinking the exact same thing. I was super bummed when John Prine died but he had lived a long life and it felt like one small piece of the COVID awfulness raging in the world at the time. This is different.

 

I'm also just so sad for Steve, whose music has been a part of my life since I was very young, so it's a weird thing where not only do I feel like I'd gotten to "know" Justin as much as someone can from a distance from living and breathing his life's work, but I feel the same way about his father (probably even more so), who has to be in unspeakable pain right now.

 

The David Berman and John Prine deaths were both super tough ones for me, but JTE being only a couple years older than I am def makes this one tougher to swallow.

 

Prince was the one for me that, like, actively altered my daily life when it happened.

 

bowie still fucks me up

 

Petty for me. That one I couldn't even finish the workday because I was so torn up about it.

 

Mac Miller and Justin have hit me the hardest. Something about an artist I love who had very well-known demons, and then passes so young when their stories were far from finished, is a really tough pill to swallow.

 

I had that same conversation with a friend today. Prine's death was sad, but as awful as it sounds to say out loud, he at the very least still got to enjoy a long full life to 71 years old. So that one was at least a little easier to accept - this just came out of nowhere and blindsided us all. I knew about Justin's personal struggles (I mean, as a fan, it was pretty much impossible NOT to) but I always believed he'd be a success story in the end. So to find out today that his death was a likely overdose, is just that much more heart-wrenching. I don't doubt that this pandemic, sidelining entire tours and performances indefinitely, and putting musician's livelihoods on hold almost completely, was a factor in this. The isolation and restlessness of having to drop your normal routine of performing and traveling to just get stuck at home can't be good for your mental well being. Especially so when you've struggled with addiction.

This is how I'm feeling, too. I got into Steve's music first, and he was one of the artists who really opened me up to the country genre and roots music as a whole. So when I found out he had a son who was also a singer-songwriter, I jumped right onboard and was hooked instantly.

I know they had their issues, with estrangement, but at the same time I always got the sense there was still a mutual love and, ultimately, understanding between them despite their complicated relationship. I haven't really heard anything about how things were between them for a while now but last I remember, they were on good terms. So I really hope that was still true.

Yeah, I'm 30 so while he still had a few on me, it wasn't that far apart. I think that might be part of why I always related to his music more on a personal level than his father's, much as I love both of them.

 

It’s unfortunate he had a falling out with Isbell, seems like toward the end he could have used a friend like him who had struggled with similar demons and had success overcoming them.

 

I didn't even know they had a falling out. Guess that's why Jason was posting about his bad hair day while everyone else was paying tribute...

 

jason posted about JTE yesterday. cmon. unnecessary.

 

I just googled their names to find out what this falling out was and saw that. my bad. I stopped using twitter last week after deciding it was detrimental to my mental health and missed out. apologies.

still feeling a little raw about all this, got out of line.

 

Isbell spoke about it in an interview a few years back and basically said they were no longer speaking as a result of him remaining friends with JTE’s ex or something along those lines.