During my radio days, I remember playing a new song and I said to myself, "This guy is the next great Outlaw of Country Music". That song was Guitar Town. Whoa! "I love to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt' and "a two pack habit and a motel tan". To a guy like me who spent most of my adult life single and ready to hit the road at a moment's notice, this song was written for me. I was a Steve Earle fan, hook, line and sinker. He released a few more songs (I'll get to those in a minute) that kicked ass and then POOF!, he was nowhere to found, except jail. I don't want to get into Earle's drug and legal problems, so if you want to learn a bit more about him wikipedia has more. One thing, however, I would like to say at this point is Steve appeared on the HBO show The Wire in which he was an addict addressing a 12 Step program, "I pawned my bike, my pickup truck, a National Steel guitar, a stamp collection that my grandpa left me; lost a good wife, a bad girlfriend, and the respect of anyone who ever lent me money." Autobiographical perhaps?
These are a few songs that made Steve Earle a star and the tunes that "could have been" the foundation of a brilliant and prosperous career for the man who grew up in Schertz, Texas.
- Someday - Good solid song.
- Copperhead Road - Brilliance.
- I Ain't Never Satisfied - Damn good.
The man is not dead! Further, he has reached exactly who he wanted to reach. Further than that, monitor his swelling popularity today.
ReplyDeleteI repeat, the man is not dead!
I know the man's not dead. Years ago, he reached me and other outlaws like me plus some other folks, too. As far as his "resurgence", I plead ignorance to that. My point in this article was to show how a very promising career for a young man was thrown away at the expense of addiction. I applaud Steve if he has recovered and conquered his demons. I don't keep up with country music like I used to, I was writing as I saw things 30 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd like to put together a story about Steve and what he's up to these days, I love to post it and give you all due credit. Email me at threestatesplusone AT gmail DOT com.
Thanks for the great comment, Anon! Please drop by again!