March 5: Steve Earle – Guitar Town (1986)

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.

 

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.

Someday, album version (w/lyrics):

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:

 

  • I Feel Alright is a studio album by Steve Earle. The album was released on March 5, 1996.
  • J. B. Lenoir (March 5, 1929 – April 29, 1967) was an African American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, active in the 1950s and 1960s Chicago blues scene.Although his name is sometimes mispronounced like the French “lan WAH”, Lenoir himself pronounced his name a “la NOR”. The initials “J.B.” had no specific meaning; his given name was simply “J.B.”
  • Grinderman is the eponymous debut studio album by alternative rock band Grinderman, a side project of members of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on March 5, 2007 on Mute Records in Europe and ANTI- in the United States. Aiming to recreate the more raw, primal sound of all former related projects such as The Birthday Party, Grinderman’s lyrical and musical content diverged significantly to Nick Cave’s concurrent work with The Bad Seeds, whose last studio album, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus (2004), was primarily blues, gospel and alternative-orientated in stark contrast to the raw sound of the early Bad Seeds albums. Incidentally, the musical direction of Grinderman influenced The Bad Seeds’ next studio album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008).
  • Andrew Roy “Andy” Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was an English singer and teen idol, and the younger brother of Bee Gees Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb.

-Egil

Egil

Recent Posts

“All Dylan” Blog will merge with “Born To Listen” Blog

alldylan.com will merge with borntolisten.com. Please check out borntolisten.com & subscribe.

4 years ago

Bob Dylan – Mutineer (Warren Zevon) @ Hartford, Connecticut 2002

Bob Dylan performing Warren Zevon's wonderful "Mutineer".

5 years ago

January 21: Bob Dylan Recorded One Of His Best Songs “She’s Your Lover Now” in 1966

On January 21, 1966 Bob Dylan recorded one of his best songs "She's Your Lover…

5 years ago

November 30: Bob Dylan recorded “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?” in 1965

Bob Dylan recorded "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" on November 30, 1965. Here…

5 years ago

Bob Dylan Sings Gordon Lightfoot – Happy Birthday Gordon Lightfoot

Happy 81st Birthday Gordon Lightfoot (November 17, 1938). This post includes audio of Bob Dylan…

5 years ago

Bob Dylan Sings Neil Young’s Old Man (3 versions)

Bob Dylan covers Neil Young's "Old Man" - 3 versions from 2002.

5 years ago