Jonathan Bernstein became a fan of Justin Townes Earle while a college student in St. Paul, Minnesota. He thought that he might be covering the songwriter's career for many years to come but that changed when Earle died in 2020. Instead of writing about Earle's career as it unfolded, Bernstein found himself serving as the late musician's biographer with the book What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle.