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.

Justin Townes Earle at Mercy Lounge (January 27, 2010)

I'm pleased to report that Justin Townes Earle thrilled the near-capacity crowd at Mercy Lounge (around 400 souls) on a 44-degree Wednesday night in Nashville. He played his acoustic guitar with such force that he broke a string once, but it hardly slowed him down at all. That young man - just 28 years old - has absorbed 80 years of roots-music tradition, country as well as blues & folk (not to mention his Daddy Steve's heavy country-rock legacy) & distilled it into appealing original music that is both nostalgic & contemporary.

His opening acts, the Elvis-faced but uncharismatic Caitlin Rose (with a yet-to-be-named band of five guys), plus the gorgeous & dynamic Dawn Landes (with her 2-piece band The Hounds, featuring a bearish backup singer who played harmonica while drumming), got things rolling. Now that I'm listening to Patsy Cline on WSM-AM those ladies fail to impress by comparison. But I enjoyed Dawn's sexy original song in the French language, which she introduced by dedicating it to French cowboys. She used to live in Paris, where she spotted a beauty salon that specialized in cowboy hairstyles, whatever the heck that is.

Justin Townes Earle in concert is the REAL DEAL, folks. My only regret is that I didn't wish him luck at the Grammy Awards (he's nominated in the new Americana category) when he strolled past me at the club entrance. He stopped to hug a friend & say he'd forgotten something outside. The lanky man was dapper in a black suit & red-checked shirt buttoned to the top. Onstage he looked as geeky as Buddy Holly in those large specs. Yet his awkward movements & occasional mugging did not detract from the polished performance. He was obviously entranced by the sounds his string trio made.

The lineup included a lady bassist & a bearded fiddler. They opened with "Poor Fool," my favorite song from JTE's excellent album "Midnight at the Movies" (thanks, Samara). His stage patter is charming, peppered with heartfelt "Thank you, folks" & "Ladies and Gentlemen..." Justin is an artist who appreciates & respects his audience - too rare a quality among young performers in this awful Age of Irony & Narcissism.

JTE delivered several new songs in addition to renditions of such someday classics as "They Killed John Henry" & "Black Eyed Suzy." He dedicated "Mama's Eyes" to his local mother who, he said, could not attend because of the late hour (he went on at 10:00 p.m.). With a nod to some Beat literary forebears, Justin name-dropped Gregory Corso (the poet) & Herbert Huncke (the junkie) while introducing "Midnight at the Movies." He also informed - us with deadpan earnestness - that in New York City, where he now resides, he is considered a Southerner. His drawl, his musicality & his polite manners left no doubt about that. He gave a shoutout to Woody Guthrie along the way (as he did when I saw him in Milwaukee last July) & treated us to a honky-tonk rambling-man number as well. He even reflected briefly on his delinquent youth, when he roamed the streets of Nashville with a rat-tail, bad attitude & drooping trousers. I learned today (in a book about his Daddy) that Justin was born at Baptist Hospital, just a block away from my digs at Music City Hostel.

Matt Burton, a Cheshire guitarist/pianist (& Jackson Browne fan) who accompanied me to the show, enjoyed it too. Maybe Justin Townes Earle will gain an international following a la Bob Dylan, whom he reminded me of at times with his paradoxical blend of shyness & confidence. As long as he keeps on writing entertaining songs & doesn't let New York turn him into a jaded jerk, he's got a shot.

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.

Steve & Justin Townes Earle, critical darlings

Will Hermes, one of the critics polled by Nashville Scene (NS), a local weekly, had these kind & insightful things to say in NS's 10th Annual Country Music Critics Poll (see the Jan. 7th issue at www.nashvillescene.com) about two of my favorite Americana/country musicians:

"I loved the father/son symmetry of the Steve Earle/Justin Townes Earle records, which both spoke to tradition, albeit in different ways. Pops bowed to his own creative father on "Townes," with covers that played fast and loose stylistically (see Tom Morello's weirdly appropriate hip-hop noise guitar on "Lungs"); the kid played originals looking back to a still-earlier era while also covering The Replacements. These guys understand tradition is something to be both cherished and run up against." - Will Hermes, whose music journalism/criticism appears in the NY Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly & The Village Voice as well as on National Public Radio.

Overall, Steve Earle finished 16th with "Townes" in the NS critics poll's list of the best country albums of 2009, while Justin Townes Earle's "Midnight at the Movies" got the #8 spot. JTE was also voted the #8 songwriter, ahead of Kris Kristofferson & Guy Clark, but behind Buddy & Julie Miller & even Taylor Swift. The talented Avett Brothers took 15th with their fine record "I and Love and You." Number one went to Miranda Lambert's "Revolution." Thankfully, the Americana sub-genre is embraced by Nashville Scene's editors as being "country," rather than relegating its artists to the margins - as some narrow-minded industry leaders seem to prefer.

Sadly, Neko Case didn't make the cut in either the album, the singles or the female vocalist categories. Apparently the 77 critics who participated in NS's poll think that Ms. Case's brilliant "Middle Cyclone" strayed too far from Americana/alt-country land into pop/rock territory. But at least they showed some wider awareness by choosing Elvis Costello's "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" as the #11 country album of 2009. Maybe that's Elvis' reward for his many years of championing New Orleans roots music & the classic songs of George Jones & his traditional country ilk. Thankfully, such quirky & often neglected artists as Lyle Lovett & Loudon Wainwright III got nods in the NS poll as well.

NOTE: I'll give you a report on Justin Townes Earle's Jan. 27th show at Nashville's hip Mercy Lounge at Cannery Row as soon as I can.