For a brief moment, it looked like everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. After a few technical snafus Justin Townes Earle asked for the Royale’s house music to be turned back up, but luckily the on-stage problems quickly resolved. Maybe the rowdy, obnoxious crowd didn’t notice that the show started in the first place, but more on that later.

Justin Townes Earle is touring in support of his sixth album, Single Mothers. Unlike his last stop in the area at the Sinclair last year, he brought a full band with him.

New songs like “Worried About The Weather” pop in a full band setting (the soulful tune was originally written as a duet, but he couldn’t find a partner). “Time Shows Fools,” another single from the record, really benefited from backing drums and electric guitar. And the album closer, “Burning Pictures,” placed earlier in the set, was a rollicking tune.

One hurdle that Earle didn’t get over was that something with the vocals was amiss: either they were too quiet in the mix or the disruptions in the crowd may have been too much. It may have been easier to hear a conversation three rows back than to hear him. It’s quite a disappointment — Earle’s vocals and lyrics are really a reason to get there.

But when it was just him on the guitar for the encore of the classic “Harlem River Blues,” he was loud and clear, with an audience joining in as a welcomed chorus.

But the Royale audience was a definite hindrance on the enjoyment of the show. For an admission price of $25, it seemed that the time wouldn’t be best spent getting really drunk, standing in the second row, having loud conversations, spilling beverages and quite literally interrupting the show so that Earle would plead with someone to stop clapping out of rhythm. It’s baffling, really. Why even buy a ticket then? Perhaps that’s money better spent at a country bar. I don’t think it’s a reflection of Justin Townes Earle’s ability to command a room, I just think this was a bad crowd.

And despite all of this, he mentioned only did not come out for an encore once in his career, and it was because that crowd was “all assholes,” he said. So maybe it wasn’t that bad.

Nonetheless, American Aquarium opened the show, with a set of confident Americana music, which drew its own vocal and, more importantly, respectful set of fans.

Get a list of Justin Townes Earle’s tour dates here.