In “Let’s Get Lost,” off his latest album The Journals, singer/songwriter Sammy Brue sings about a man who has never taken a chance. Over the languid swing of his unaccompanied guitar he describes the man’s gray, unenviable existence. In the song–and in life–Brue, a professional troubadour since middle school or so, would rather take a riskier path. It’s where life happens.
“So, baby, we might not make it back / but that’s all right with me,” he sings. “If you’re scared, just go unpack / go home and wait and die in these same old streets / but if you’re with me, take my hand / we’ll run until we drop.”
This is what Brue has lived, but also what he’s learned.
The Journals is a tribute to his late mentor Justin Townes Earle. After Earle’s 2020 passing, Jenn Marie Earle gave Brue the unrecorded lyrics in her husband’s journals. Some songs in The Journals are based on those. Others are Brue-Earle cowrites. Still others are based on snippets Earle penned. Even The Journals’ cover nods warmly to Earle’s Harlem River Blues, with Brue in front of the same bridge, shot from the same angle. Yet Brue is not Earle, nor does he try to be. Brue brings his late mentor’s work to life without imitating him, honoring Earle by developing his own sound in the process.
