King Of The Blues

Album: Terraplane (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • The closing track of Terraplane, the song provides a bit of thematic summing up for the blues-orientated album. "I wrote it in Italy, largely," Earle recalled to Billboard magazine. "I circled back around to Lightnin' Hopkins with the guitar and everything. And it's also that thing of sometimes the remedy for the blues is just to make yourself out to be all that. It's probably how I deal with my insecurities, really."
  • The album's title comes from an automobile, introduced by the Hudson Motor Company in 1932, that was also the inspiration for the Robert Johnson song "Terraplane Blues." "'Terraplane' just seemed like a good title," Earle explained to American Songwriter. "It's a car. It's a fast car. I've never wanted to learn how to play 'Terraplane,' and I don't know for sure if I will do it. I'm trying to figure if I can do it. It's a hard song to sing, so I gotta find some version of it that works for me."

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