"On November 6, 2016, Justin Townes Earle made an important proclamation: He was moving to Portland. "Another new town another new home," he declared on Twitter, just two days before the Presidential election. "Northwest growing on me. I like this rainy motherfucker!""
"Over the previous decade, the folk-roots singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle had developed a loud reputation. He was the tall, tattooed, blustery troubadour who'd overcome the pressure and pain of being the son of country legend Steve Earle, moved to New York City at the height of his rise in the late 2000s, and since had established himself as one of the forebears of contemporary Americana music with records like Harlem River Blues."
"Justin's time in Portland was one of the most pivotal periods of his life: It was where, as a man in his mid-30s, he started a family and where he wrote his triumphant album, 2019's The Saint of Lost Causes. It was also roughly the longest period-and, geographically, the farthest-that he ever lived away from his hometown of Nashville. But over his brief period in town (just a bit over two years), Portland would also end up becoming the setting for Justin's full-blown relapse into substance use."
""He liked Portland and some of the things that, legally, Portland had to offer," as one of Justin's oldest friends once put it. It was the last place he lived before temporarily relocating, under difficult circumstances, back to Nashville, where he was eventually found dead in a temporary apartment from a fentanyl overdose in 2020."
Justin Townes Earle announced a move to Portland in November 2016, describing the city’s rainy atmosphere and growing appeal. Over the prior decade, he built a strong reputation as a folk-roots singer-songwriter while navigating the pressure of being Steve Earle’s son and relocating from Nashville to New York during his rise. Portland became a pivotal period in his mid-30s, when he started a family and wrote his triumphant 2019 album, The Saint of Lost Causes. During a little over two years in Portland, he also relapsed into substance use, with friends noting he liked Portland and certain legal aspects. He later returned to Nashville under difficult circumstances and died in 2020 from a fentanyl overdose.
Read at Portland Mercury
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