Justin Townes' widow slams Jason Isbell's 'Extremely Painful' song about late musician

Justin Townes Earle's widow, Jenn Marie Earle, slammed Jason Isbell for his song about his friendship with the late musician, “When We Were Close” and the “strong, visceral and extremely painful reaction” the Earle family had to this.

“When Were Close” appears on Isbell's 2023 album, Weathercocks, and though it's never openly stated that it's about Earle, the song's lyrics detail a relationship gone sour and each other's battles with addiction. The lyrics also appear to refer to Earle's accidental overdose death in 2020 (a toxicology report indicated a combination of alcohol and cocaine with fentanyl).

As Isbell has promoted Weathervanes, has frequently performed “When Were Close” live, as well as in television appearances. While the Earle family has not commented publicly, Jenn Marie has finally shared a scathing statement about social media after Isbell opened up about why he felt he had to write the song in a recent interview.

Isbell, for his part, said that when he was writing “When We Were Close,” he thought to himself, “How many victims if I tell the truth, how many victims if I don't?” And he continued: “And then you make that choice. Why does the song have to exist… Usually, if you tell the truth, you make fewer victims than if you don't.”

At Earle's Facebook page, Jenn Marie shared this excerpt from the interview and wrote, “When you make my daughter cry and you're heartless and that's your response.. I have so much more to say.”

In a follow-up note on Instagram, she highlighted a handful of lyrics that were particularly poignant because of how Isbell seemed to reference Earle's death and substance abuse, especially regarding Jenn Marie and their 6-year-old daughter, Etta. (“I saw a picture of you laughing with your kid/And I hope he remembers how you smiled/But he probably wasn't old enough/The night someone sold your laugh left you on the bathroom tiles.” And, “ It's not up to to forgive you for the nights your love had to live through.”)

Jenn Marie called the nod to their daughter “a full-on gun fist, something Justin would no doubt be extremely upset about.” He said Isbell's portrayal of Earle's death was “grotesque”, “graphic”, “completely unnecessary” and “wrong”, adding: “It's not 'his truth' to share as he has completely removed himself from the situation for years until Justin. death.”

Jenn Marie went on to criticize Isbell for not reaching out to Earle's family about the song before its release, acknowledging that such a gesture was not “required” but would be a “respectful thing to do” because of the references to herself and to Etta. . He went on to claim that while Isbell “realized the song was extremely painful”, the family were disappointed to see him continue to center the song as he promoted Weathervanes.

“I, like others, contacted him personally, in an emotional plea to try to make him understand the trauma he caused our daughter (he asked to hear it and it has led to moments I can't bear to share), something with she will deal with for the rest of her life,” Jenn Marie wrote. “He did not respond, and then made the aforementioned statement, making it clear that he understood there were living, breathing victims. One of them is our innocent daughter.”

A representative for Isbell did not immediately return a call Rolling rockhis request for comment.