Justin Townes Earle couldn't pretend he had a model childhood if his life depended on it. Everyone in town knows what a punk kid he was, and whose blood runs in his veins. And if somehow you missed that whole story, he'll retell it willingly—but not in his songs. Earle's a swinging, sharp-dressed showman, and not the type of songwriter who usually writes soul-baring confessions. "Mama's Eyes" is his rare explicitly autobiographical song, and his history looms large behind it—with his dad ("We've never tried to be the fucking Cleavers"), his old habits and his mom ("Despite all her efforts I turned out a fucking raving lunatic junkie"). Only, in this song, Earle expresses these truths a lot less colorfully and with a quiet vulnerability that hits hard—even when you hear it for the 17th time. JEWLY HIGHT
