Steve Earle’s standing as a singer-songwriter in the top echelon of Americana artists cannot be denied. And it is no better illustrated than his decision to perform solo after decades of fronting with the Dukes, one of the hottest bands in Nashville.
Just to prove the point, Earle has released a solo acoustic album Alone Again (Live) which was recorded live during his 2023 solo tour of the same name which kicked off in Paris in early June and crisscrossed Europe, the U.K. and Ireland.
To coincide with the album’s release on July 12, Earle wrote: “So, October before last I woke without a band. I had toured with one version of the Dukes or another since 1982, but the real continuous bloodline of the outfit died with my long-time bass player, Kelly Looney, in 2019. So, it seemed I’d come to a crossroads. Left? Right? I chose BACK. Back to performing solo like I did in coffeehouses when I first started.”
Looney’s passing, in November 2019, was followed nine months later by the death of steel guitarist William “Bucky” Baxter who was a co-founder of the Dukes. But the ultimate end of the band – and Earle alludes to this somewhat vaguely in his statement – came in October 2022, when husband and wife members, Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore, announced their departure.
Masterson, the lead guitar player, and fiddler/mandolinist Whitmore had been with the Dukes for 12 years, contributing to seven albums, besides constantly touring the globe with the worldly Earle. The distinctive pair had become the nucleus of the band and left to concentrate on their own line-up The Mastersons and Eleanor’s new pairing with sister Bonnie as The Whitmore Sisters.
So Earle was left to return to his roots as a solo artist who became an acclaimed story-teller, with classic songs as “Copperhead Road,” “Guitar Town,” “The Galway Girl” and “Goodbye,” and whose work would be recorded by some of the biggest names in music, from Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings to Emmylou Harris and Joan Baez.
Earle’s current concert setlist averages 23 songs and mixes his own work with some covers, like “If I Should Fall From Grace With God” by The Pogues, Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr Bojangles” and a tribute rendition of his late son Justin Townes Earle’s “Harlem River Blues.”
But none of these covers make the 15-track album of stripped-down acoustic songs, two of which – “I Ain’t Ever Satisfied” and “Copperhead Road” – have been released as promotional singles.
“Copperhead Road” is regarded by many as the finest Americana song ever written, simply because it can be performed in whatever genre you fancy – country, rock, folk, bluegrass or even heavy metal. Not to mention that it tells a fascinating tale of three generations of bootleggers – presumably in Tennessee, where last year it was made an official song of the state (referenced in Earle’s intro to the latest version).
As expected, there are numerous recordings of Earle doing the 1988 hit live over three decades. Most are somewhat raucous, as was the rock-fuelled original, so it is refreshing to hear the classic delivered in the folky, acoustic purity as it is on Alone Again. And Earle, now 69, is at his distinctive gravel-voiced best as he delivers one of the most-clever lyrics ever written:
I volunteered for the army on my birthday
They draft the white trash first ‘round here anyway
Another Earle classic which finds its true home in this acoustic collection is the jig “The Galway Girl,” a song which belongs anywhere, whether it be a saloon in West Texas or a picturesque pub in coastal Connacht. Earle is at his inventive best on his distinctive Martin guitar. He needs to be as the original was enhanced by an accordion, fiddle, banjo et al. None of these are here, but the audience still love it as he again delivers some of his best lines:
And I ask you now tell me what would you do
If her hair was black and her eyes were blue
Surprisingly, there is only one track, the beautiful “Goodbye,” from Earle’s critically-acclaimed acoustic album Train A Comin’. And again it fits perfectly as he gently weeps:
Most Novembers I break down and cry
But I can’t remember if we said goodbye
Earle doesn’t shy from giving the solo treatment to his more rockabilly songs. His classic “Guitar Town” takes of a period of appreciation without the hot guitar licks from 1986, but it works nevertheless, as does the upbeat “The Devil’s Right Hand” from his acclaimed Copperhead Road album, way back when. And here, as in most tracks, his punchy vocals - and the odd harmonica riff - do much to compensate for any full backing.
And just to reinforce that this is truly an acoustic event, he delivers a sensational almost two-minute instrumental opening to the riveting “Transcendental Blues,” the title track to his 2000 release with bass and drums on the original.
Earle is a social activist who has always worn his political beliefs firmly on his sleeve. And his live shows have often been punctuated by his thoughts on a particular issue. “My politics haven’t changed a bit, I’m a radical mother-fucker.” So it is entirely appropriate that this live collection includes spoken preludes to some songs. For instance, his light-hearted introductions to “the chick songs” or his more serious endorsement of coal-mining trade unions during the lead-in to “It’s About Blood,” a song he wrote in recent years for the Broadway drama Coal Country.
What is most significant about Alone Again is that it is a contemporary live album – recorded in the last 12 months.
In this age of digital streaming, there is a plethora of live material being constantly released. But most of it has been mined by record companies from deep in the archives of recorded live tracks by the various artists over the years. The companies - as indeed the performers - know that volume is important on the various digital sites. The more to choose, the higher the play and greater the income!
No better example than the news in the past week that songs by Bob Dylan and the Band recorded live some 50 years ago will be released in September. It is a collection of 431 tracks – yes that is four hundred and thirty one – including 417 previously unreleased songs that have been remixed and will be delivered in “a deluxe box set.” In the past five years there have been at least seven albums released from the Dylan library, helped by the fact that in this period he sold both his songwriting and recording catalogs to multi-national companies.
So it is refreshing that to know that someone like Earle is delivering fresh live material that actually represents the current metamorphosis of the artist. And in true Earle fashion he is currently supporting the release with shows - solo - across the States through to September.
Paul Cutler
Editor Crossroads – Americana Music Appreciation.
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