Q&A: Earle takes songwriting break to honor Van Zandt

By Robert Levine

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Steve Earle knew the singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt so well that he watched him play Russian roulette one night when he was drunk and admires him so much that he named his son after him.

After establishing himself as an important new voice with a string of late-'80s albums that blended roots-rock and country, Earle struggled with his own substance abuse problems. But he came back in the mid-'90s, then drew controversy and critical acclaim with political material like "Jerusalem" and "The Revolution Starts ... Now."

Van Zandt, who died in 1997, never became famous as a performer. But other singers had hits with his compositions -- most famously, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard recorded a version of his outlaw ballad, "Pancho and Lefty," that became a No. 1 country hit in 1983 -- and his own versions hold up well enough that Fat Possum Records recently reissued some of his albums.

Earle honors Van Zandt's influence on "Townes," which comes out May 12 on New West Records, by playing his songs in the same stark style in which they were originally recorded.

"Townes was, literally, my mentor," says Earle, who picked up Van Zandt's talent for songwriting and his propensity for hard living. "This may be the best record I've ever done," he adds. "And that hurts my feelings because I'm a singer-songwriter."

Billboard: Why did you decide to record an album of Townes Van Zandt songs?

Steve Earle: I did it now to facilitate finishing my novel -- I started the novel six years ago and writing songs for this album would take a few (more) months out of that process. I had thought of doing this a few times, but I talked myself out of it every time because I'm a singer-songwriter and I had something I wanted to say.

Billboard: Why Van Zandt instead of, say, Woody Guthrie?