Pen & Page

Country/folk troubadour Steve Earle performed to a sold-out crowd at Sheridan’s Wyo Theater on Saturday evening.

At 54, folk troubadour Steve Earle is just two years older than his teacher, mentor and friend Townes Van Zandt was when he died.

During a sold-out performance Saturday at Sheridan’s Wyo Theater, Earle said nothing could have prepared him for the series of shows in which he performs songs from his newest album, “Townes,” comprised entirely of covers originally written and performed by Van Zandt.

“I wish he could have been here to see it,” Earle lamented, and spent the evening playing songs from “Townes” and discussing Van Zandt’s influence on his life.

Earle’s musical path took quite a course from Van Zandt, who died in 1997 at the age of 52 from health issues related to substance abuse. Though Earle spent many years living hard with Van Zandt, even pawning his guitars for heroin, Earle cleaned up in jail and launched a noticeably more successful musical career following his release.

Read full story: Steve Earle channels ghosts of his past