I just returned from a trip to Tennessee, where a couple years ago Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road” was made the official state song, so it was poignant seeing his solo acoustic show in Solana Beach last night.
The singer songwriter presented a solid chronological autobiographical journey from his scuffling days in San Antonio to his efforts at trying to break through in the music business in Nashville to his current love of New York City, a city of immigrants. He played a solid two hours without a break.
His songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, The Pretenders, and countless others.
Admitting that in his early days he was “too broke to pay attention” Earle pulled together a couple publishing deals in Nashville but could not garner a record deal. When he finally was able to record an album, it was a rockabilly disc on Epic that went nowhere fast, and his record deal died on the vine. Seeing Bruce Springsteen on the Born in the USA tour was Earle’s catalyst for working out an album despite having no record deal. At The Belly Up Earle used several of these stories as introductions to early classics of his like “Devil’s Right Hand,” “My Old Friend The Blues” and “I Ain’t Ever Satisfied.”
Earle described how Springsteen apparently bought two albums in a Los Angeles record store, Mink Deville’s first album and Earle’s Guitar Town. The guy behind the counter told a friend who wrote for Billboard, it was reported in next week’s issue and the Earle album shifted 35,000 copies. Earle was booked on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and a career finally got out of first gear.
Earle talked about the point in time when the powers that be at MCA Nashville had the momentary brilliance to sign in quick succession Earle, Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith.
Earle described sidling up to Irving Azoff at a party, and being told that a rock record was required. Off to Ardent Studios went Earle and with echoes of prior bands from Zeppelin to Big Star to REM, along comes Copperhead Road.
Earle was blunt that drugs were always present, and after the chart success the drugs became more front and center. The songs got darker. Several years in jail got him sober. At a Tennessee jail in the middle of nowhere he finally got his hands on a guitar for the first time in four years and wrote his first song while sober. “I Can’t Remember If We Said Goodbye” was the stunning result.
Onstage at The Belly Up Earle’s guitar work was deft, with a clear and evocative tone. His voice remains gruff, with a deeper burr around the edges.
The storytelling aspect in setting up almost every song places his work in fascinating context.
Earle comfortably drops names like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Doug Sahm and Bob Dylan, with each of whom he spent plenty of time.He described that finally by the end of the century had the courage to explore the challenge of bluegrass with Del McCoury, introducing the transcendent “The Mountain.”
Towards the end of the evening Earle’s crowd pleasing “City of Immigrants” described not only his adopted home of NYC, but the nation as a whole. It reminded me of a brave billboard I saw while driving in Tennessee earlier in the week:
“If you are an American, your heritage is either Native American, enslaved, refugee or immigrant. That’s it.”
Earle’s stunning encore of “Galway Girl” without saying it brought his music full circle.
Stunning.
(photos by Brad Auerbach)
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