CMT News

Steve Earle will release a covers album of Townes Van Zandt songs, Townes, on May 12 on New West Records. Selections include "Pancho and Lefty," "White Freightliner Blues" and "No Place to Fall." Allison Moorer appears on "Loretta" and "To Live Is to Fly," and Justin Townes Earle sings on "Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold." In addition, the track "Lungs" was produced and mixed by the Dust Brothers' John King and features Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine/the Nightwatchman/Street Sweeper on electric guitar. Townes will also be available as a deluxe two-CD set, as well as double limited edition 180 Gram Vinyl. Earle met Van Zandt in 1972 at one of Earle's performances at the Old Quarter in Houston. Earle has been widely quoted as saying, "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." Van Zandt died in 1997.