Jonathan Bernstein
Music Journalist, Writer, and Author
Jonathan Bernstein is a senior research editor and writer at Rolling Stone, and before that was a freelancer for Oxford American, The Guardian, GQ, and the Village Voice. He lives in Brooklyn.
His first book, What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome — The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle — was published in January 2026.
What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome
The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle
Jonathan Bernstein, with the full cooperation of the Justin Townes Earle estate, unravels in What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle, a short but incredibly creative life, and reveals the backstories behind Justin’s greatest songs and what happened when it all fell apart while also capturing a shadow world of the neglected children of Nashville legends who wrestle with the legacies of their hard-living, road-weary, often absent parents. This heartbreaking, deeply researched tale is an exemplary music biography.
“A superb biography of a singular life.”
Kirkus, Starred Review
“A rich character study and an insightful appraisal of the toll art can exact from its makers.”
Publishers Weekly
