His name is Earle

Steve Earle played at Cactus Records in Houston today, with the cost of admission only entailing the ordering his new album "Townes," his newest recording of songs written by his mentor/tormentor Townes Van Zandt (who is dead, in case you didn't know.)

We say mentor/tormentor cause it appears Earle idolized Townes and Townes sorta treated him like a lil' brother (and if you're male and have a lil' brother you'll know that the relationship includes tormentin' and mentorin'.)

The relationship aspect of the two is all based on the New York Times story in tomorrow's editions, which you should read if you're at all interested in either of the musicians.

A friend of ours attended Steve's Cactus gig and reported this to us:

"...about an hour long, a couple of Townes songs including Pancho and Lefty, his own stuff like Christmas in Washington, Rich Man’s War and Copperhead Road. About 10 or 12 F-bombs and a pro-Obama screed. Very good show."

Our friend, an avid reader of The Brazosport News (allegedly) also took the above photo from today's event, for which we thank him.