Justin Townes Earle’s music has always sounded like someone who’s a restless sleeper from album to album. It’s constantly changing styles – The Good Life focused on traditional country, Midnight at the Movies was the folk album, Harlem River Blues, the  rockabilly album, and now with Nothing’s Going to Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, JTE delves into the soul end of the pool – but at least here, he feels a little more at peace with himself in his life, or at least more honest. With the weight of things in his past like drugs and family debacles coupled with the fact that he’s now 30 years old, it might be that JTE is right where he needs to be.

With this album, Earle becomes reliant on subtle horns on many of the tracks, giving the album a jazzy, Memphis soul feel to it. That’s not to say that there aren’t tracks that hearken to past albums; “Baby’s Got a Bad Idea” and “Memphis in the Rain” tinge of  Harlem. Even the track “Won’t Be the Last Time” feels a bit like “Rogers Park” from that album. However, he feels more honest with himself here, and “Last Time” is Earle’s confessional, about the rocky road he’s taken. He comes to terms with the past, but as the title suggest, he makes no guarantees.

“Am I That Lonely Tonight?” opens the album, and prepares you for the instrumentation that you’ll become familiar with, as well as the familiar themes of the record. On this track, Earle feels a bit lonely, homesick, since he lives in Europe. The track “Look the Other Way,” feels like the inspiration for the album cover. The track, along with a number of them on here, deal with a nasty break up, and in this song he’s got hope, but every time they see each other, she looks the other way. “Maria” is the name drop track, but has some deep lyrics: “I guess mama wasn’t lying, about the dangers that could be inside ones heart, we’re better off if we all remain strangers, stumblin’ through the dark.”

The albums only hindrance comes in it’s reliance on similar instrumentation tropes. At times the horns don’t evoke the emotion that Earle may wish – the track “Down on the East Side” comes to mine – but the style of music that he plays here is very limiting, which may actually be purposeful. If one looks closer, perhaps good is too limiting to him. The last track’s title, “No Different Blues” may be a reference to his life, though the song’s content is about his last relationship.

It will be interesting to see where JTE goes from here. Will he embrace that darker side again? Or will this be his wake up call to really pull himself together? As a music critic, I hope it’s that latter. Hell, I feel like shit for writing statements like that that; if embracing the past and all it’s darkness means a great record, it’s not worth it. Truly, JTE, hope all is well.

Album Rating: Stream It or Download It (Legally of Course)

Listening Co-efficient: Passive Listen

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