Steve Earle, Allison Moorer & band - live in Missoula (June 18th)

En route to my brother's place in Hood River (which has arguably the most sublime landscape in Oregon), I stopped Saturday for dinner in Missoula, Montana.  Serendipitous, as it turned out:  I discovered that Steve Earle & the Dukes/Duchesses were playing at the 2,000-seat Wilma Theater alongside the floodstage Clark Fork River that evening.  Since Steve was at the top of my must-see-ASAP-in-concert list, it wasn't hard to justify spending $36 for the ticket.  No regrets - aside from the fact that, as a non-resident, I couldn't sign the lobby petition to end the death penalty in the Big Sky state.   

I've rarely been part of a more enthusiastic singalong audience, and Steve's band played 2 inspired sets over 3 hours, including a pair of encores.  Mixing in several numbers from his new album, I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, with songs that dated back to his 1986 breakthrough Guitar Town, Steve dedicated the concert to the recently deceased sax-player Clarence Clemons.  

Keyboardist, guitarist and accordion player Allison Moorer, whom Steve introduced as his "far better half," sang a pair of her own songs as well as a couple of duets and an impassioned cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come."   She dedicated a song about the couple's 14-month-old toddler son (who's on the bus for this tour) to Steve for Fathers Day.

It wouldn't be a Steve Earle show without some lefty political pitches.  He made a few anti-war & pro-environmental comments while introducing such songs as the old coal-mining protest "The Mountain" and the new shrimp-boater ballad "Gulf of Mexico."  Steve played an acoustic guitar marked THIS MACHINE FLOATS (a nod to Woody Guthrie's wartime guitar graffito "This Machine Kills Fascists") while performing "This City (Won't Wash Away)," a song Steve wrote for the HBO series Treme, in which he played a New Orleans street musician circa 2005.  

Looking more & more like a grizzled moonshiner with his long grey beard & balding pate, Steve took us on a thrilling ride along the Hillbilly Highway, aided by a fine 5-piece backup band featuring the rootsy sounds of fiddle, pedal-steel guitar, mandolin, banjo & harmonica along with a rockin' mature rhythm section from Nashville & a young couple from Houston (who perform as The Mastersons).  

It's easy to admire such a charismatic, intelligent, multi-talented artist as Steve Earle, who writes fiction & produces records as well as acting (see HBO's The Wire & the 2009 movieLeaves of Grass) & even directing his own play.  Catch him in concert if you can.  But be forewarned:  when one guy loudly complained that the bass level was too high, the irascible Earle replied, "If the bass is too loud, then you're too old!"   Remaining as grateful & approachable as his gifted musician son Justin Townes Earle, Steve stayed after the show to sign CDs & copies of his new novel for a long line of fans.

During this westward trip I gained a newfound respect for Montana, where Steve said he loves to fish the many mountain streams.  In at least one respect, Montana is more progressive than Wisconsin:  its voters passed a medical marijuana referendum a few years ago.  At the Mile High compassionate cannabis clinic in Butte, however, I learned that some legislators are trying to repeal that bit of democratic libertarian cowboy-country common-sense public policy.  Anyway, it's great to be in the cool climate of the Northwest now.

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.