Steve Earle makes it to age 55

Stephen Fain Earle turned 55 on January 17, 2010. Despite his past addictions & fascination with firearms, Steve managed to outlive his songwriting hero & hellraising mentor, fellow Texan Townes Van Zandt (who died at age 52 on New Year's Day 1997).

Steve covers several of Van Zandt's transcendental songs on the critically acclaimed 2009 tribute album "Townes." His son Justin Townes Earle is now a noteworthy musician in his own right. Steve's 6th wife (in 7 marriages - he has one double-ex), singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, is expecting their first child (together) quite soon.

Born in Virginia & raised in Texas, Steve Earle came of age in Nashville, but he never fit in with the conservative Music City establishment. In addition to his many great albums since 1986 ("Guitar Town"), Steve has worked as a record producer, a writer (of fiction, poetry & a play), a Sirius Satellite Radio DJ (the "Hardcore Troubadour" show on the Outlaw Country Channel) & even an actor, appearing in several episodes of HBO's "The Wire" as a recovering addict named Walon. Steve is also a high-profile activist on anti-war & death-penalty issues. He kicked heroin & crack-cocaine while incarcerated in the mid-1990s, following a 2-year period that he described with typical dry wit as his "vacation in the ghetto." Steve frequently collaborates with other musicians, including Patti Smith (he plays banjo on her cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"), folk legend & fellow leftist Joan Baez, and the bluegrass master Del McCoury.

Here are a few more fun facts about Steve Earle, a/k/a the Hardcore Troubadour:
* He has been nominated for 14 Grammy awards, in country & folk categories (it's high time he won one too, I reckon);
* He was given the 2004 "Spirit of Americana" Free Speech Award by the Americana Music Association & the First Amendment Center.
* He's the subject of the documentary film "Just an American Boy," directed by Amos Poe, & the fine biography "Steve Earle: Fearless Heart, Outlaw Poet" by David McGee.

I encourage those of you who don't know his earthy yet sensitive music to check out "Copperhead Road" (1988) & "Transcendental Blues" (2000). Happy Birthday, Steve! I raised a toast to you, your art & your political courage Sunday night in Nashville.