17 October 2013 (Day 290) – What’s My Favourite Steve Earle Album Ever

For some reason I’m free of commitments today and so can contemplate a playlist for a minimum of five albums by the same artist.  As I scrolled through my iPod listing of artists wondering whether there would be anyone left there to whom this would apply, I didn’t get very far before I came across Steve Earle. 

Earle is one of America’s most revered songwriters, able to write powerful, controversial or deeply personal material that finds him equally at home within the country, folk and rock communities.   Some of his songs are the product of a rather interesting life which has included seven marriages, successfully fighting off heroin addiction and also a stint in jail but he has also taken a stance on many political causes.  He is a noted anti capital punishment advocate, was one of George W Bush’s fiercest critics in the music world and attracted great deal of criticism for his anti Iraq war stance especially, for his lyrics to John Walker Blues.  Walker was the American citizen captured by US Forces in Afghanistan who was fighting for the Taliban.  In his song, Earle bravely attempted to articulate Walker’s motives by singing in the first person.

The album which contains this track (2002’s Jerusalem) did not make today’s playlist but five other albums did, starting with the album which, ironically could have paved the way for him to become a blue collar star on a par with Bruce Springsteen had subsequent events played out differently:

(# 674) Steve Earle – Copperhead Road (1988)

Earle’s first two albums, Guitar Town and Exit O, were both low key country albums that were well received.  On this album the quotient of rock was dramatically increased and, such were the force of his political opinions, that the Springsteen comparisons were made.  Lazy commenters could argue that this was an attempt at remaking the Born In The U.S.A album;  the title track with its full on rock ending and Earle’s lyrics about returned US soldiers from Vietnam could easily be mistaken for that album’s title track.  Johnny Come Lately (on which he is joined by The Pogues) also addressed war veterans concerns, whilst the powerful The Devil’s Right Hand attacked gun ownership and Back To The Wall poverty.  The latter half of the album balances these concerns with more personal concerns, the pick of these being You Belong To Me.

(# 675) Steve Earle – Train A Comin’ (1995)

Much happened between Copperhead Road and this album although this did not include the release of much new material with the exception of 1990’s loud, pummelling and hard to sit through in one sitting The Hard Way.  Train A Comin’ was in effect a comeback album, his first release after a stint in jail for heroin possession.  Many of the songs were written years earlier as a young man, a couple during his rehab process and three covers are also included (his long term hero, friend and mentor Townes Van Zandt’s Tecumseh Valley, The Beatles I’m Looking Through You and the reggae standard The Rivers Of Babylon).  Every track is rendered acoustically in either a folk or bluegrass style that maintains an astonishing consistency of sound and purpose.  In many respects, this is Earle’s true debut album and the font from which his current standing and development is derived.

(# 676) Steve Earle – I Feel Alright (1996)

This was the logical and triumphant first step away from Train A Comin’ and all of its unintended associations with Earle’s drug and legal problems.  Now fronting a band, the title track is a joyous personal state of the national address.  Hard-Core Troubadour and More Than I Can Do continue in this vein, the former swinging like the very best Los Lobos tunes.  Now She’s Gone shuffles along amiably despite the sadness of the lyrics as does Billy And Bonnie and The Unrepentant is a resolute rocker.  Two of the slower tracks; CCKMP (Cocaine Come and Kill My Pain) and South Nashville Blues are both powerful throwbacks to I Feel Alright’s themes albeit with a stronger musical backings but ultimately, this is an album by an artist happy to be alive and functioning in the world again as demonstrated by the wonderful closing track You’re Still Standin’ There, a duet with Lucinda Williams.

(# 677) Steve Earle – The Revolution Starts Now (2004)

This was the album that followed the explicitly political Jerusalem and found Earle maintaining the rage.  Bookended by two versions of the defiant and catchy The Revolution Starts …. [Now], Earle hits the target on a number of anti Iraq tunes, with Home To Houston, Rich Man’s War, the powerful declaration Warrior and the intricate The Gringo’s Tale practically amounting to a mini suite.  The faux reggae of Condi Condi, a lust letter of sorts, to Condoleeza Rice and F The CC (Fxxk The [Federal] Communications Commission) varies the attack to incorporate humour and an Ramones style chant respectively. The remaining tracks are largely non political but are all wonderful; Comin’ Around, a duet with Emmylou Harris, the tender I Thought You Should Known and the late period Springsteenesque The Seeker.

(# 678) Steve Earle – Washington Square Serenade (2007)

This album took a bit of stick from some listeners who seemed unprepared to accept some of the more audacious attempts to experiment with Earle’s musical palette.  But it is these additions, especially the beats on the extraordinary Satellite Radio, the use of Brazillian music on City Of Immigrants and the Tom Waits inspired soundscape of Red Is The Colour and his brilliant cover of Waits’ Way Down In The Hole, that gives this diverse album its power.  Even then, the more traditional Earle fare such as the sparse ballad Sparkle And Shine and Jericho Road are absolutely top notch and the same applies to this album’s duet, Days Aren’t Long Enough with current wife Allison Moorer.