For this outing, the Philadelphiaborn artist, nee Garrett Dutton, decided to go back to his roots — far back, to the days before he began merging blues-folk with a little R&B and hip-hop to create a laid-back funksoul vibe.

I love that about peoples life journeys, he adds in his pleasant voice. Somebody like Nelson Mandela is in prison for 28 years and comes out and says, We want to build a nation thats inclusive of all people. Those are the types of changes in life that get me inspired and excited to make music.

What I was trying to do was play songs that have been a part of my musical life, so none of these songs were songs that I learned for this record, he says. They were songs that Ive known for years. The simple fact was, its been two years since my last record, and I was eager to record Natural Forces and Pantry and Farmer Brown.

Forget that Justin Townes Earle’s middle name comes from a revered songwriter and his last name comes from another. When you listen to his songs, you’ll hear a talent who stands on his own. Sure, his voice sometimes betrays his genes, but where dad Steve is rooted in twang — and Texas soil splashed by Celtic rains — Justin is more likely to pluck the banjos of old-timey country or revisit jug-band music, ragtime or Westerberg (The sole cover on his exceptional album, Midnight at the Movies, is the Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait”). Clearly, sounding like his dad is a non-issue. Physically, there’s even less resemblance: Skinny Justin looks more like Hank Williams than Dad.