duets: justin townes earle + a champagne cocktail

listen: Kids In The Street

drink: champagne corolla

a Nashville meets Harlem cocktail created in honor of J.T.E.

We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

Justin Townes Earle loved snappy dressing and Nashville fried chicken. He didn’t care to be compared to his father, esteemed Americana legend Steve Earle, and viewed his namesake Townes Van Zandt as a bad influence. Despite the connections to fame, Earle grew up fatherless and lived in poverty with his single mother in Tennessee. As a preteen, he got into heroin and playing the blues– both of which helped quiet the “missing” inside of him, as he described it.

Though his grim and abusive childhood gave him plenty of writing material, Earle preferred to write non-autiobiographical songs. “One thing you have to do is take your earbuds out, get your head out of your goddamn iPhone, and pay attention to what’s going on around you and the world around you. Because otherwise, you’re going to write diary entries. And nobody wants to hear your diary entries,” he told Rolling Stone. Earle’s track, “I Ain’t Waiting,” was inspired by a conversation overheard at a Waffle House and scribbled on a napkin.

Earle fought the good fight with addiction throughout his career, maintaining bouts of sobriety here and there as he toured and took up residence in Harlem. In the end, this summer he headed home for Graceland, not long after fellow Americana legend John Prine. One can only hope that he was received with the type of enveloping peace he never quite found here on the ground. Fortunately for fans like myself, he left a rich discography for us to mourn with.

For this Duets, I’m sharing a not-too-fussy cocktail in JTE’s honor that I suggest pairing with his 2017 album Kids In The Street. The first track, Champagne Corolla, is the inspiration for the drink, but the whole collection is an accurate reflection of his range and talent. If I Was The Devil is a smoky, slightly sensual track with a slow bass-line while Maybe A Moment is up-beat and melodic, with a cute twangy line, “Maybe only a moment/May be the time of your life.”

Be sure to add on his Graceland single, which was released outside of the album. It’s a sparse, earnest cover of the Paul Simon classic, played a quick pace that makes it sound like a fervent prayer. I can’t listen to it without balling, but no pressure.

Thank you for sharing your heart with us, JTE. I picture you sippin’ on a drink like this, filling up notebooks, chain-smoking, looking down on our goings-on with a bit of a smirk.

Champagne Corolla

INGREDIENTS:

1 oz. Dickel Rye (Tennessee whiskey)

1.5 oz. Cognac

1/2 oz. Demerara

2 dashes Bay leaf bitters

Top champagne

Garnish: orange twist

DIRECTIONS:

Add ingredients into a shaker or mixing container with desired amount of ice. Stir and strain into glass.

*recipe by my talented bartender brother Dylan McGinnis