Singer/songwriter Justin Townes Earle passed away much too soon on August 20, 2020. Now, nearly four years after the tragic loss, a collection of never-before-heard demos, rarities, and B-sides hit streaming services and record store shelves. All In: Unreleased & Rarities (The New West Years) serves as a celebration of Earle’s legacy as an artist as well as a gift to his ever-loyal fanbase.
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The collection includes raw demos from Kids in the Street and The Saint of Lost Causes as well as demos of unreleased songs. It also features covers, cuts from compilation albums, live recordings from Steve Earle’s Hardcore Troubadour radio show, and more.
Ahead of the release of All In, producer Adam Bednarik sat down with American Songwriter to discuss the new album, the songs it contains, and the legacy it represents. Bednarik worked alongside Earle as his producer and co-producer for nearly his entire career.
“I had worked with Justin on every one of his albums from The Good Life through The Saint of Lost Causes. That’s eight albums,” he explained. “We had a thirteen-year professional and personal relationship,” he added. About assembling All In, he said, “It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. It was extremely difficult, emotionally speaking. One of the hardest records I’ve ever had to make.”
Why Release the Justin Townes Earle Collection Now?
“My co-producer Kim Buie approached me with this idea a little over two years ago. So, we’ve been working on this for quite a while,” Bednarik said. “It just kind of seemed like the dust had settled a little bit since Justin’s passing and there was some never-before-heard material that still existed as well as some B-sides that we had recorded when we made The Saint of Lost Causes. It just kind of felt like the right time to get this stuff out in the world so Justin’s fans could hear it,” he explained.
When they started working on the collection, Bednarik and Buie had two main goals in mind. “We tried to keep in mind to not only serve Justin and his legacy but also wanted to put something out there for his fans,” he revealed.
Why Select These Songs for All In?
Justin Townes Earle likely had much more unreleased material floating around. However, the collection focuses mostly on his final two albums—Kids in the Street and Saint of Lost Causes.
“This collection is from Justin’s time with New West Records. Within that time period, he only released Kids in the Street and Saint of Lost Causes,” Bednarik explained.
“So, when we for Saint of Lost Causes, we had the 12 songs on the record and what constitutes side A of All In. Those six songs were written and turned in at the same time as the songs that made it onto the album,” he said.
However, they didn’t strictly limit the collection to releases on New West Records. Some material came from compilation albums and Bednarik and Buie wanted to put them together with Justin Townes Earle’s works. “There’s two songs on side D that were from compilation albums that weren’t on New West but we really liked Justin’s versions of those songs. None of those are really in the same place so we thought it would be fitting to include those with this album, to have everything right there,” he explained.
“New” Versions of Justin Townes Earle Songs
Some of the demo versions on All In reveal longer and unedited versions of songs that fans have been listening to for years. As a result, they give fans a new perspective on Justin Townes Earle’s songwriting.
“The demo of ‘Appalachian Nightmare’ that’s in this collection got edited pretty heavily before the recording process. In the demo, there’s a handful of lyrics and verses that you’ve never heard before,” Bednarik said. “The same thing with ‘Over Alameda.’ We did some editing to that during the recording sessions. In the demo, there’s a bridge section that we omitted,” he added.
All In: Unreleased & Rarities (The New West Years) is available to stream everywhere today.
Featured Image by Joshua Black Wilkins
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