Category Archives: Steve Earle

Today: Steve Earle released the album Guitar Town in 1986 – 27 years ago

Steve-Earle-Guitar-Town

The first two things I wrote were Guitar Town and Down the Road, because I was looking for an opening and an ending.  So I wrote ’em like bookends, and then filled in the spaces in the middle.  And the album’s kind of about me.  It’s kind of personal.
~Steve Earle (to Alanna Nash – May 1986)

Guitar Town was his first shot at showing a major audience what he could do, and he hit a bull’s-eye — it’s perhaps the strongest and most confident debut album any country act released in the 1980s.
~Mark Deming (allmusic)

Guitar Town:

Wikipedia:

Released March 5, 1986
Recorded Sound Stage Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
Genre Country rock, Americana, Texas Country, heartland rock, rockabilly
Length 34:35
Label MCA
Producer Emory Gordy, Jr., Tony Brown
Associate Producer: Richard Bennett

Guitar Town is the debut album from singer-songwriter Steve Earle, released on March 5, 1986. It topped the Billboard country album charts, and the title song reached #7 on the country singles charts. Earle was also nominated for two 1987 Grammy Awards, Best Male Country Vocalist and Best Country Song, for the title track.

steve earle guitar town

 

Goodbye’s All We’ve Got Left on Austin City Limits September 12 1986:

The album was recorded in late 1985 and early 1986 in Nashville, Tennessee, at Sound Stage Studio. Overdubs were later recorded at Nashville’s Emerald Studios. It was one of the first country music albums to be recorded digitally, utilizing the state-of-the-art Mitsubishi X-800. Each of the album’s ten tracks was either written or co-written by Earle.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 489 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2012, the album ranked at #482 on a revised list. In 2006, it ranked 27th on CMT’s 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music.

steve earle guitar town 2

Someday (Live on New Music Awards 1986):

Track listing:

All songs written by Steve Earle unless otherwise noted

  1. “Guitar Town” – 2:33
  2. “Goodbye’s All We’ve Got Left” – 3:16
  3. “Hillbilly Highway” (Earle, Jimbeau Hinson) – 3:36
  4. “Good Ol’ Boy (Gettin’ Tough)” (Earle, Richard Bennett) – 3:58
  5. “My Old Friend the Blues” – 3:07
  6. “Someday” – 3:46
  7. “Think It Over” (Bennett, Earle) – 2:13
  8. “Fearless Heart” – 4:04
  9. “Little Rock ‘n’ Roller” – 4:49
  10. “Down the Road” (Tony Brown, Earle, Hinson) – 2:37

My Old Friend The Blues – Live 1987:

Personnel:

  • Steve Earle – guitar, vocals

The Dukes

  • Bucky Baxter – pedal steel guitar
  • Richard Bennett – guitars, 6-string bass, slap bass, associate producer
  • Ken Moore – organ, synthesizer, keyboards on “State Trooper”
  • Emory Gordy, Jr. – bass, mandolin, producer
  • Harry Stinson – drums, vocals

Additional musicians

  • Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar on “Fearless Heart” and “Someday”
  • John Jarvis – synthesizer, piano
  • Steve Nathan – synthesizer

From Spotify:

Other March 05:

Continue reading Today: Steve Earle released the album Guitar Town in 1986 – 27 years ago

Steve Earle – Train a Comin’

Steve Earle - Train a comin

“This ain’t no part of no unplugged nothin — God, I hate MTV”
~Steve Earle (Liner notes)

I got to thinking,…if I don’t make this record now, I won’t get the chance to make it. .. I’m singing the best I’ve sung in years. Mainly [because of] no dope. Heroin relaxes your vocal cords, it lowers the top of your range a little bit, and then when you try to sing over it…
~Steve Earle (to SPIN in 1995)

I wish I’d never come back home
It don’t feel right since I’ve been grown
I can’t find any of my old friends hangin’ ’round
Won’t nothin’ bring you down like your hometown

Hometown Blues – From Later With Jools Holland 1995:

Wikipedia:

Released February 28, 1995
Genre Folk, country, country rock, bluegrass
Length 40:21
Label Warner Bros.

Train a Comin’ is an acoustic studio album by Steve Earle. The album, Earle’s first in five years, was released in 1995. In addition to Earle, it features Peter Rowan, Norman Blake, Roy Huskey, and Emmylou Harris. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

steve earle 1995

 

If you see her out tonight
And she tells you it’s just the lights
That bring her here and not her loneliness
That’s what she says but sometimes she forgets

Sometimes She Forgets:

Continue reading Steve Earle – Train a Comin’

Today: Steve Earle is 58

steve-earle-58

“I don’t really think in terms of obstacles. My biggest obstacle is always myself.” – Steve Earle

One of JV’s Greatest heroes

Steve Earle (born January 17, 1955) is  known for his rock, folk and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play.

Birth name Stephen Fain Earle
Born January 17, 1955 (age 58)
Hampton, Virginia United States
Origin San Antonio, Texas, United States
Genres Country-rock, Texas country, folk,Americana, heartland rock, alt-country,roots rock
Occupations Musician, singer-songwriter, writer, actor
Instruments Guitar, mandolin, harmonica, banjo,bouzouki, bass guitar
Labels Uni. MCA Nashville, New West, E² Records, Warner Bros.
Associated acts Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Del McCoury Band
Website www.steveearle.com

Me and Egil have seen Steve Earle in concert several times and have followed him since his magnificent debut. We love the man.

He is always exciting to follow, as a musician, as a writer or as an actor. He has integrity. We’re always looking forward to his new albums and hope he will return to our shores as soon as possible.

Happy birthday Steve Earle!

Allmusic:

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

In the strictest sense, Steve Earle isn’t a country artist; he’s a roots rocker. Earle emerged in the mid-’80s, after Bruce Springsteen had popularized populist rock & roll and Dwight Yoakam had kick-started the neo-traditionalist movement in country music. At first, Earle appeared to be more indebted to the rock side than country, as he played a stripped-down, neo-rockabilly style that occasionally verged on outlaw country. However, his unwillingness to conform to the rules of Nashville or rock & roll meant that he never broke through into either genre’s mainstream. Instead, he cultivated a dedicated cult following, drawing from both the country and rock audiences. Toward the early ’90s, his career was thrown off track by personal problems and substance abuse, but he re-emerged stronger and healthier several years later…(READ MORE)

One of his best – Goodbye:

steve earle - 58 two

 Photo: Senor McGuire

Last year for his birthday we picked our favourite songs by Steve Earle.

Here is Egil’s list (follow link to read post)

Egil picked 20 songs:

  1. Fort Worth Blues (El Corazón)
  2. Goodbye  (Train a Comin’)
  3. The Mountain (The Mountain)
  4. My Old Friend the Blues (Guitar Town)
  5. Feel Alright (I Feel Alright)
  6. Guitar Town (Guitar Town)
  7. When I Fall (Transcendental Blues)
  8. Hard-Core Troubadour (I Feel Alright)
  9. Johnny Come Lately (Copperhead Road)
  10. Taneytown (El Corazón)
  11. Valentine’s Day (I Feel Alright)
  12. Billy Austin (The Hard Way)
  13. More Than I Can Do (I Feel Alright)
  14. The Galway Girl (Transcendental Blues)
  15. The Unrepentant (I Feel Alright)
  16. Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song) (Transcendental Blues)
  17. Harlan Man (The Mountain)
  18. The Boy Who Never Cried (Transcendental Blues)
  19. Nowhere Road (Exit 0)
  20. Ellis Unit One (Sidetracks)

 

Here is Hallgeir’s list (follow the link to see videos)

 

I picked 10 songs:

  1. Fort Worth Blues
  2. The Mountain
  3. Guitar Town
  4. Copperhead Road
  5. Galway Girl
  6. Ellis Unit One
  7. My old friend The Blues
  8. Goodbye
  9. Devil’s right hand
  10. Telephone Road

For the album of today I have picked I Feel Allright from 1996:

Other January 17:

Continue reading Today: Steve Earle is 58

Christmas music: Nothing but a child by Steve Earle

nothing

Steve Earle is next out in our series of christmas videos. It’s an incredible song from the album “Copperhead Road”, released in 1988. The background voice was provided by the wonderful Maria McKee on the album version.

In this version it’s just Steve and his guitar:

It shows that our hero Mr. Steve Earle is not always political, he seems to have a little religion in him as well. Maybe it was just the holiday season approaching that inspired him, who knows? A very nice song it is.

Here is the version from the album (with Maria McKee on background vocals):

Nothing But A Child
(Steve Earle)

Once upon a time in a far off land
Wise men saw a sign and set out aross the sand
Songs of praise to sing, they travelled day and night
Precious gifts to bring, guided by the light
They chased a brand new star, ever towards the west
Across the mountains far, but when it came to rest
They scarce believed their eyes, they’d come so many miles
And the miracle they prized was nothing but a child

Nothing but a child could wash these tears away
Or guide a weary world into the light of day
And nothing but a child could help erase these miles
So once again we all can be children for awhile

Now all around the world, in every Iittle town
Everyday is heard a precious little sound
And every mother kind and every father proud
Looks down in awe to find another chance allowed

Another fine live version from 1988 (MTV):

– Hallgeir