Justin Townes Earle in Georgia recently Associated Press Watching Justin Townes Earle's fine performance at the sold-out Varsity Theatre Monday night, I started thinking: How 'bout a concert pairing Justin Townes Earle with his step-aunt, Shelby Lynne? They both deal almost exclusively in sad songs; his tunes make you want to have a stiff drink, hers make you want to slit your wrists. OK, I exaggerate. But it's heavy brooding, not light entertainment. Earle's songs seemed a little sadder Monday if only because he focused on material from this year's "Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now." It's not just that the tunes are downcast but the mood and tempo are hopelessly melancholy. Moreover, some of the nuanced touches heard on the album, especially the muted horns, weren't part of the Varsity show. The Americana hero was accompanied by a drummer, upright bassist and guitarist (who also played pedal steel), who hardly sounded road-tested tight. The measured softness of Earle's vocal delivery suggested Boz Scaggs but the often poetic lyrics cut to the core. This 30-year-old has been as unlucky in love as his dad, Steve Earle, who is on marriage No. 7. The younger Earle tends to obsess over certain things, like mentioning Memphis in three of Monday's songs, his father in three numbers and needing to be "a better man" in three tunes. But he seems more like a sympathetic character than a loser, though you'd have to dig deep to psychoanalyze of his issues. In his 80-minute set, Earle, with his getting-longer hair flopping into his face, essayed a little honky tonk music to pick up the tempo, dusted off a solo version of Lightnin' Hopkins' blues chestnut "I Been Burning Bad Gasoline" (with the lead guitar on tape as he played acoustic rhythm) and offered a nod to Minneapolis with a too-slow reading of the Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait," which seemed foreigned to the band and not as successful as a solo rendition Earle did at the Fitzgerald in 2009 opening for Kasey Chambers. Earle was best at the Varsity when he beat himself up with his own material: the bleak "Harlem River Blues," the Southern-bathed "Memphis in the Rain," the boardwalk soul of "One More Night in Brooklyn," the apologetic tribute "Mama's Eyes" with its slurred vocal coda, the toe-tapping Dr. John-evoking "Baby's Got a Bad Idea," and the hopeless country plaint "Roger's Park" with its mournful steel guitar. Monday's set list: They Killed John Henry/ Wanderin'/ Memphis in the Rain/ Look the Other Way/ One More Night in Brooklyn/ Ain't Glad I'm Leavin'/ Baby's Got a Bad Idea/ Maria/ Ain't Waitin'/ Am I That Lonely Tonight?/ solo I Been Burning Bad Gasoline (Lightnin Hopkins)/ solo Unfortunately, Anna / with band: Harlem River Blues/ Black Eyed Suzy/ Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now/ Christchurch Woman/ Mama's Eyes/ Can't Hardly Wait (Replacements)/ Movin' On ENCORE solo: Halfway to Jackson/ with band: Roger's Park