Justin Townes Earle arrested in Indianapolis « My Old Kentucky Blog {BETA}

As a big Justin Townes Earle fan, this makes me sad. I hope that a) he can get his life back on track and go thru rehab without incident and b) that he was taking a swing at the club owner and accidentally hit his daughter. It doesn’t make the hissy fit any more justified, but I want to believe that he’s not the kind of guy who hits women. 

There’s no defending a man who punches a woman in the face, and I really want to like this guy.

For context, Sara and I saw him perform at Berbatis during MusicFest Northwest and he looked a little strung out, peevish, distracted and irritated. He still put on a good set, though I won’t defend the crowd there. He was the headliner and at least half of the crowd was talking loudly and not paying attention. It was really distracting as an audience member, so I can imagine it was annoying as fuck for a performer. When we saw him last year at the Doug Fir, the audience was great and so was he.

It was a festival audience, so you never know what you’re going to get.

Of course, I’m not in any way trying to absolve Justin for what happened in Indianapolis, but just trying to bring some context. People who bitch that “I paid $15 to see him and it sucked” should shut their fucking mouths, especially if they were part of the crowd that was being belligerent. That sense of false entitlement irritates the shit out of me. You paid for the right to see a performance, no one guaranteed you that it would be a good one. And if you’re not doing something to shut the assholes in the crowd up, then you’re just as culpable when they have a hand in screwing up a performer and ruining a show. 

We’re all flawed in some way or another and I hope that Justin Townes Earle is able to get control of his addiction and get his life back in order.