"I ain't promising you nothing."
With that opening line, Justin Townes Earle was off and running, dealing swagger and swear words, stories and advice, along with some extraordinary guitar playing and lyrical magic.
Billed as The Saint of Lost Causes tour on the back of his latest album of the same name released a few months ago, it was trademark JTE. He only played four songs off the new album - starting with the opener - Flint City Shake It,Frightened by the Sound,The Saint of Lost Causes and Ahi Esta Mi Nina. The last three came with verbal amplification of their significance.
Earle's disarming attitude - like a naughty boy where never became a nice guy, like an irritating drunk at the end of the bar who's got something to say about everything - is like an affectation when he's performing. It's part of the act, take it or leave it.
The banter comes with a punch.
"Y'll all got white trash, too. I've seen it."
"My mama's a bad bitch. She detached my daddy's retina with one blow."
What's on:All the unmissable bits of Newcastle and the Hunter
But leaving that aside, his music is captivating, each piece a gem, particularly his own songs. Frightened by the Sound, for example. On first glance, it's about not being "frightened by the sound" of a storm a storm, but as it echoes in your head you realise it can be about so much more - which is how he introduces it.
Tonight, every song gets an introduction,a story. Make no mistake, as Earle relates later in the show, he comes from a long line of storytellers, particularly on his father's side of the family.
And here he is a troubadour, who can't quite afford to tour with a band, who makes the most of his unique finger-picking style to carry the rhythm.
The music sound feels tinny, and repetitive, to an extent. But the songs hold up, with Earle's voice as strong as ever. It's particular forceful as he brings songs to their end, playing off the lyrics and dramatically finishing with some delicate finger strokes.
Over the course of the 18 songs, he offers some obscure blues classics, as he's known to do, paying full credit to the original artists - Malcolm Holcombe, a friend from his southern roots, and Mance Lipscomb, a Texas bluesman who died decades ago.
For the encore, he comes out shirtless, and covers Gold Watch and Chain from The Carter Family, and ends with Can't Hardly Wait by The Replacements.
Setlist: Flint City Shake It, One More Night in Brooklyn, Am I That Lonely Tonight, Ain't Waitin', Frightened by the Sound, The Saint of Lost Causes, Who Carried You (Malcolm Holcombe), Hard Livin', Mama's Eyes, They Killed John Henry, Ahi Esta Mi Nina, Christchurch Woman, So Different Blues (Mance Lipscomb), XXX (Mance Lipscomb), Lone Pine Hill, Harlem River Blues, Gold Watch and Chain (The Carter Family), Can't Hardly Wait (The Replacements).
