BEST OF 2011 - #8 - STEVE EARLE "I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE"

Steve Earle's I'll Never Get Out Of The World Alive is a great album that I felt didn't get enough attention in 2011. I'm a huge fan of Steve's but I didn't really enjoy his last album, 2009's Townes.  This LP was produced by T-Bone Burnett, who is currently on an incredible streak of working with great artists (including the Elton John/Leon Russell, Robert Plant/Allison Krauss collabs, and albums by Jakob Dylan, John Mellencamp and B.B. King).

I feel like Steve always has relevant things to say, and one of my favorite songs on this album is "Little Emperor," about our last President. In this era of Obama bashing, it's worth mentioning that, for all of his failings, he's way better than what we had for eight years before he took office.

This album saw Steve return to the rock band format after doing two solo albums.   And the tour also saw him using a band for the first time in years.  I was fortunate enough to catch the show at Tarrytown Music Hall, and it was incredible. See a bunch of amazing photos from the show, shot by my lovely wife, here. And while I'm writing about Steve, I should mention his weekly SiriusXM show on Outlaw Country, read more about it here.

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: GILLIAN, FLORENCE, IMELDA

Tomorrow on SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick I'm bringing in some of my favorite albums of 2011, but the theme is that all of these records feature lead vocals by women.


Gillian Welch's The Harrow and The Harvest is definitely one of my favorites of the year. I'm not the only one who feels that way: Mojo magazine gave it a five out of five star rating. Whenever I listen to it, I find it odd that it's just her name on the cover: it seems that her and her partner David Rawlings are equally vital to the music.

Florence + The Machine's Ceremonials is an "epic" album.  That word gets overused these days, but everything -- the songs, the performances, the arrangements -- it's a work of art.

Imelda May's Mayhem came out in Europe last year, but in the U.S. this year. She is really talented: a great singer, very charismatic, great sense of style, and she writes great songs.   You may have heard her singing on Jeff Beck's recent albums Emotion & Commotion and Rock & Roll Party. In fact, if *I* wanted to have a rock and roll party, I'd never be able to afford Jeff Beck, but one day if I'm pretty successful, I might call on Imelda May and her great band to rock my party!

Other records I hope we'll get to: Shelby Lynne's Revelation Road, Allison Moorer's Crows (which actually came out last year), Joss Stone's LP4 and The Tedeschi Trucks Band's Revelator. (That band features married couple Derek Trucks of The Allman Brothers Band and singer-songwriter Susan Tedeschi.) And maybe I'll give another shout out to The Make Out, who have one of my favorite songs of 2011, "I Don't Want Anyone Who Wants Me."

STEVE EARLE IN TARRYTOWN - AWESOME

I haven't seen Steve Earle play with a band for a while (other than when I filmed this brief performance at the SiriusXM studios for Outlaw Country)... his shows over the past few years have been acoustic deals, where he is occasionally accompanied by a DJ or his wife, the incredibly talented Allison Moorer. On this tour, however, he reactivated his long-time backing band The Dukes (bassist Kelly Looney and drummer Will Rigby), but now they are called The Dukes and Duchesses. Allison plays piano, all kinds of keyboards, accordion, guitar, I think she played mandolin and maybe tenor guitar and of course she sings.  Also in the group is both members of The Mastersons, a cool husband-wife duo.  Chris Masterson played guitar, pedal steel guitar and bass and sang, while Eleanor Whitmore plays that tenor guitar, mandolin and violin and sings also.  As for Steve, he played acoustic guitar, a bit of electric, banjo, mandolin, harmonica and bouzouki ("But don't call it that in an airport"). The band was phenomenal.

Adding character to the show was the venue: The Tarrytown Music Hall.  This is a room with a vibe: it is 126 years old. Yes, it opened in 1885.   It has a small capacity - less than 1000 people. It seemed that everyone who worked there was a volunteer, and they all loved the room. Rightfully so. You're never far from the stage, and the sound was great.  Later on in the tour, Steve is playing New York's Town Hall and Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg, so he didn't have to make this stop, way out in the suburbs, but it was cool that he did. It was certainly a different crowd from the ones that I've seen at some of his other shows.  Music Hall "members" get free tickets for all the shows, so a lot of people were at the show probably because it was free for them. I think that's great: Steve Earle shouldn't just be about preaching to the converted, as it were.  But for a small room, there were a few people who didn't seem familiar with him, and especially not with his new album, I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (one of my favorites of 2011).

So it may not have helped those people that Steve opened with five new songs: "Waiting For The Sky," "Little Emperor," "Gulf Of Mexico"(after the song, he added "Fuck BP!"), "Molly O" and "Every Part Of Me." I was stoked: I love his album, and like Springsteen and Dylan (who I found myself comparing Steve to throughout the night - not as a disciple, but as a peer) his recent albums hold up to the rest of his stellar career.

Steve's musical performances are always great, but his spoken interludes between songs always add to the experience. He talked about how America *is* its immigrants before "City Of Immigrants" and about the story of the miner who he wrote about twice, in "Harlan Man" and "The Mountain."

Steve definitely has fans who prefer his pre-jail era (his '80s albums) and he took care of them with some of his classics like "My Old Friend The Blues," "Someday" (a favorite of my wife, who is also the photographer for this post), "Guitar Town" and "Hardcore Troubadour" (which is also the name of his weekly radio show on SiriusXM Outlaw Country - yes I work there). I love that stuff, but I'm equally a fan of his Bu$h era protest music - he was saying what needed to be said, when few others had the balls to say it.  So thanks Steve, for playing "Jerusalem" and "The Revolution Starts Now," songs that surely had Springsteen jealous. Thanks for writing those songs.

Steve was generous with his band: he gave Allison a three song set, including the stunning "Easy In The Summertime" and a cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," which floored the room. Kelly Looney switched from guitar to bass to sing one of his songs, and The Mastersons did one of theirs as well.

There were so many highlights for me. But I loved the story he told about "The Devil's Right Hand" (maybe my favorite song by him).  When he wrote it, it wasn't a gun control song, but years later - after his 14 year old son stole his gun and wouldn't tell him where he'd hidden it - he sort of changed his mind.  

I also loved his covers: Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper" (which he's done on live albums before, and anyway, when in [or near] Jersey...) and Bob Dylan's "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry," which I didn't know Steve ever did.  I know Steve was really influenced by both of them. But what I think is so cool is that he's become their peer, I'd daresay that he's on their level. Now if the rest of the country (and world) figured this out...

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I didn't pay for my tickets - but I would have (and I  certainly have paid to see Steve in the past).  And while I was there, I bought two of Steve's live albums.

And on another note, my wife took a lot of great pictures, there will be a Zenfolio album and I'll update this post with a link to the album when it's ready.

STEVE EARLE "I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE"

Interesting album title for a left-wing country singer who has endured drug addiction, the slammer and seven marriages.  I was starting to think that Steve Earle might just be a durable as Keith Richards!

I'm a huge Steve Earle fan (he was one of my favorite artists of the '00s), and I was excited to get an advance copy of his new album, I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive, which is a reference to a Hank Williams lyric (and also the title of Steve's upcoming novel, about Hank's doctor, who is haunted by Hank's ghost). I did not get the advance from the label by the way, and I have also pre-ordered the album. I am happy to pay for a Steve Earle album.  Steve's albums always have cool artwork, which is part of the whole package.  Anyway, you know me: I like to have the "official" version.

This album is produced by T-Bone Burnett (or as I sometimes call him, "Him Again!"), and features Steve reunited with his band The Dukes, and also features his wife Allison Moorer. That's a lot of stuff going on, but everyone works well together.  Not all of the songs are "new," per se: "This City" is from the HBO show Treme (which features Steve as an actor), and "God Is God" and "I Am A Wanderer" are songs that Steve wrote for Joan Baez's 2008 album Day After Tomorrow, which he produced.

So those are the details: the album is a really rootsy affair. I always figured if Steve and the Dukes got together again, it would be a rocking affair... maybe next time.  I don't mean to say that I don't like the album, though, I do.  I love it, it's one of my favorites of the year. It sounds like The Dukes went back in time a few decades... which is what I guess you hire T-Bone for. (By the way, I'm not putting him down, he's one of my favorite producers!)

I love the opening track, "Waitin' On The Sky," if I didn't know Steve wrote it, I would have thought it was an obscure traditional piece.  It's that timeless.  Both of the Baez songs are great - I prefer Steve's versions (disclaimer: although I love Joan's politics, and I think she seems like a really cool lady, I've never enjoyed her music).  I think Steve was really inspired when he had the opportunity to write for such a legend (although I think it's funny that they recorded the album in Nashville, it's not exactly where you'd think they'd be welcomed!).  "Heaven Or Hell" is also great - it's a duet with Allison Moorer.  I don't ever really get into the personal lives of artists, but I'll just say that I think this relationship will last.  I've seen them perform on stage, they have such a chemistry when they sing together, you can see the love and respect.  You can hear it on the record.

I've said it before - Steve Earle seems to be more "relevant" and important with each passing year.  He has an incredible catalog of music to live up to, and he pretty much always comes through (I didn't love his last album, Townes, but I would recommend all of his other albums). I'm looking forward to seeing Steve's tour, which will feature The Dukes with Allison on keyboards.  If you have a chance to catch this tour, do so.

LEVON HELM'S (NOT LAST) WALTZ

It's great to see the late career-acclaim that Levon Helm has been getting in recent years. He'd hit hard times: he was suffering from throat cancer and thought he wouldn't sing again. And he was having financial troubles, and nearly had to literally sell his farm.

Well, he recovered from cancer, and decided to have a blowout party at his barn where he charged admission and played a righteous jam with his friends. Well, that jam turned into an ongoing thing - called "Midnight Rambles" - and ended up raising enough money for him to keep his place. Now his Rambles are big draws, and he even takes his show on the road. I saw a Ramble last year, and was blown away, it was an amazing show. He also put out his first solo album in decades last year - Dirt Farmer - and it was like an instant classic.

Just a few weeks ago, Levon was named Americana Artist of the Year at The Americana Awards in Nashville; the night before, he did a Ramble at the Ryman auditorium, where he was joined by Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Buddy Miller, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer, John Hiatt and Sheryl Crow. It's good to see the man getting his due while he's still here to appreciate it.

BELATED STEVE EARLE REVIEW

A couple of weeks ago, I saw Steve Earle at a lovely church in Monclair, New Jersey. It was very much like the show I saw about a year ago. Allison Moorer opened (unfortunately, I got out of work late and missed her set), Steve played solo acoustic, sometimes joined by a DJ and/or Allison. Great show: the man with just an acoustic guitar just has such power. There are very few artists who can do such a great show just playing solo acoustic: Bruce Springsteen (whose "State Trooper" Steve covered) and Neil Young maybe. Maybe Eddie Vedder. Hamell On Trial. Not many others though. 

That night, I saw Steve on Letterman: instead of plugging his own album, he did Warren Zevon's "Reconsider Me," which he'd covered for a tribute album a few years back.  It was the year anniversary of Warren's passing, and of course he was a friend of Letterman's. Pretty moving. But it also reminded me that seeing Steve fronting a band is great, too. I hope he returns to that at some point. 

"I'M JUST A COMMIE HILLBILLY..."*

I’m not sure whom the above quote could belong to, other than Steve Earle. I caught his show at New York City’s Town Hall the day after he released his great new album, Washington Square Serenade.

It would be tempting to say that the show was, or could have been, his “Dylan at Newport” moment, because he had a DJ on stage with him. “Earle Goes Electronic!” Washington Square Serenade is very beat- and loop-heavy, but in a semi-subtle way.

When some artists make this kind of move, it’s almost like a marketing thing: you can almost hear the record label folks saying, “It’ll expose (him/her/them) to a whole new audience!”

In Steve Earle’s case, he recently moved from Nashville to New York City. His longtime band, The Dukes, did not move with him. Steve worked on his new album with John King of The Dust Brothers (the guys who worked on The Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique and Beck’s Odelay), who knows a thing or two about using beats and samples. So, the album was more a result of his life situation than “How do I appeal to the rave crowd?”

There seem to be two other big influences on the album: his new wife, singer/songwriter Allison Moorer. So, this album is less political than the last two (that said, the first single is “City Of Immigrants,” and in the liner notes he mentions “P.S. Fuck Lou Dobbs!”). He’s also profoundly influenced by the history of Washington Square and the village, and folk music in general. I think he may have a future folk classic (how many of those are being written these days?) with “Steve’s Hammer (For Pete).” I’m guessing “Pete” is Pete Seeger.

Anyway, the show was incredible. It was mainly Steve, solo and acoustic, with Allison joining him occasionally (she also opened th show, and he joined her on stage as well), and a DJ also joined him a few times.

But really, all the DJ did was activate drum loops (he only did cutting and scratching on “Satellite Radio,” and even there he didn’t do much). So, it wasn’t really so radical. I think most of Steve Earle’s fans are open minded enough to be OK with it: I don’t think anyone got too bent out of shape about the loops. But really, he didn’t need a DJ – he could have trigged any of that stuff with a footpedal. Mostly the DJ would just start the beat, and then end it at the end of the song.

Anyway, the thing about Steve Earle is that he has such a commanding presence on stage, even with just a guitar, he’s incredible. His songs are really powerful, and as a songwriter I put him in Springsteen’s league: he really is such a great narrator. To me, it’s just one of the injustices of contemporary music that he isn’t headlining arenas.

So, did anyone yell “Judas!” as one fan famously did to Bob Dylan at one of The Bard’s first rock shows (hear it yourself on The Bootleg Series Vol. 4)? No, but surely some folks in the audience wished Steve was playing with the Dukes, or just wasn’t using a DJ.

It wasn’t his “Dylan at Newport” moment. I think it might be his “Human Touch” moment. As Bruce Springsteen did when he recorded the Human Touch and Lucky Town albums, Steve has just moved his home base; like Springsteen during that period, Steve is happily in a relationship, is still disenchanted with the state of things, and is also trying something new artistically (which many fans no doubt hope will pass in a year or two). By the way, when Bruce reunited with the E Street Band in 1999, it was really exciting – because they hadn’t played together in some time.

I saw Bruce Springsteen’s tour for the Human Touch and Lucky Town albums three times and loved each show. I actually thought the shows were better than the one E Street show I’d seen on the Tunnel Of Love tour. I knew The E Street Band were a better band than the guys he was using, but at the same time, it was fun to see Bruce doing something different, and he was clearly enjoying it, which made it more enjoyable than Tunnel Of Love, which to me seemed like a forced show . I actually love a lot of the songs from Bruce's early '90s era.

So, here’s hoping for the eventual Dukes reunion. But for now, I’m enjoying where Steve is at today.

* Oh yeah, the “commie hillbilly” thing. Someone at the show kept yelling out for “Hardcore Troubadour” – which is not just the title of a great Steve song, but also the name of his new SIRIUS Radio show on the excellent channel Outlaw Country (produced, like Underground Garage, by Little Steven). Anyway, at some point, this lady yells out, “Steve, if you don’t play ‘Hardcore Troubadour,’ I won’t get laid tonight!” To which he replied, “Hey, I’m just a commie hillbilly, I’m not that powerful.” But he did play the song in the encore anyway.