My roommate figured he would just pay me back in whisky.

I bought the tickets to Justin Townes Earle concert last night at Webster Hall in New York. So he paid for my drinks.

I had just gotten into Justin Townes Earle’s music in the past couple weeks. I’m a big fan of his father, Steve Earle, and his namesake, Townes Van Zandt -- two folk music legends famous for their lyricism and hard livin’. But I never got around to giving JTE a chance until recently.

I’ve had his record Harlem River Blues on repeat for the past couple weeks, because it’s awfully good and I tend to binge on new music when I find it, so I was pumped when I saw he was playing in Manhattan Thursday night.

Webster Hall was a nice physical space for the show, with a stand up crowd of about 1,000 that was full but not packed, but the hall typically houses dance music and the sound wasn’t good for country music. It also wasn’t loud enough. And I’m not just saying that because of the whisky. I think.

Earle opened the show alone on the stage with a nice solo rendition of “Wanderin’” (dedicating the tune to Woody Guthrie, “wherever he is), then was joined by a three-piece backing band for “Memphis in the Rain” and “Look the Other Way.” Next up was “One More Night in Brooklyn,” which is one of my favorite tracks off Harlem River Blues, but the syncopated song got choked off by the bad sound in the hall and was a bit of a disappointment live.

After an uninspiring playing of “Baby’s Got a Bad Idea,” he got back on track with “Maria” (“I played this song for a girl once, and she said who the fuck is Maria?” Earle told), and an outstanding rendition of Roger’s Park.

At that point, my notes started getting a little sloppy, but I know that he didn’t rock “Harlem River Blues” nearly as hard as I hoped he would rock it, but he really nailed “Christchurch Woman.” In general, I was hoping he would rock harder than he did, but I’m also a much bigger fan of his 2010 album Harlem River Blues, which features the bluesy, hard-driving country music I like, a lot better than the album he is currently touring, Am I That Lonely Tonight, which, if you can’t guess from the title, is more tenderly melancholic.

When I see a country show, I like to swill whisky and stamp my feet. But it sounds like the 30-year-old JTE has been sobering up and getting his shit together after being hooked on hard drugs since age 12.

It’s a hell of a legacy to live up to, Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt. Townes’ hard livin’ killed him young, and it’s a small miracle that Steve Earle is still alive. Steve Earle won three straight grammys for “best contemporary folk album” and should have won a fourth with I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (hard livin’). Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in American history.

Like I said, a lot to live up to, but he’s never backed down from any of it. He wears his middle name proudly in a tattoo across his neck, and he writes about his father. He’s got a lot of talent, and some good years ahead of him. So I hope he keeps it together.

I, however, was under no such prohibition last night. He may or may not have played “Workin’ for the MTA.” That’s a really good one. He may or may not have played “Movin’ On” or “Down on the Lower East Side.” He definitely did play “Mama’s Eyes,” in which he sings about his father who, JTE says, left him when he was two: I am my father’s son / never know when to shut up / I ain’t foolin’ no one / I am my father’s son.

So my notes got a little sloppy.They got damnright illegible and, if you ask me, turned into quite a beautiful mess by the second page.

I’d like to think that JTE wouldn’t have it any other way -- and Steve, and Townes too -- especially if he’s off of whisky at the moment.

I’d also like to see Justin Townes Earle find the hard nerve he had two years ago on Harlem River Blues. But I also realize that, just days after he released that record, he ended up in jail after an ugly incident at a show in Indianapolis. So maybe you can’t have it both ways.

The first thing he’s got to do is keep himself alive. If he does, he’s going to make a lot of good music.

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Follow Bison Messink on Twitter: @BisonMessink

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