Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Steve Earle at the Aladdin 1.19.09


I first saw Steve Earle fifteen years ago. He had returned to recording and touring on the other side of his well-publicized (by 1995 standards) troubles with heroin and legal system. He had an all star bluegrass band with him with Peter Rowan, Norman Blake, Roy Huskey, Jr and they were supporting an album Train 'a Comin' with covers of By The Rivers of Babylon and I'm Looking Through You that still sound great. The most memorable moment was Ellis Unit One the song he had contributed for Dead Man Walking, which had not been released yet. This moment felt like the Steve Earle I had been impressed with for the seven or years prior.

Earle's first three albums Studio albums Guitar Town, Exit 0, and Copperhead Road were a breath from 1985-88 were a breath of fresh air from the MTV-centric, drum machine, neon dayglow stuff that seemed to overstock Tower Records (remember them?) back in that era. I saw him as a kind of new generation Texas outlaw with a lot of the same kind of drama and intensity that Bruce Springsteen had before he filled stadiums with Born in the USA. Copperhead Road has always impressed me as a huge cinematic anthem that stands next to the best of Boss Springsteen's work.

I admit, however, that Earle's music and provocative world commentary have been out of my rotation for sometime. I recall a wonderful sundown set with the Del McCoury band in support of a bluegrass project they did called The Mountain. The collaboration reportedly did not last long because of Earle's continued and unrepentant use of colorful language. In the last decade he has produced seven or eight albums and been the subject of a documentary film, and is now settled in Greenwich with Shelby Lynn's sister, singer-songwriter Allison Moorer (Check out her hot version of Patti Smith's Dancing Barefoot) married for the seventh time at 55 expecting their first child together in March.

A friend and former student of mine called me to ask if I was interested in taking up an extra ticket to one of Earle's quickly sold out shows at the Aladdin this week. Why not? For certain, I knew it would not be a lacklaster event. Earle played for almost two hours with a well-structured set that integrated his catalog with the songs of Townes Van Sant, a hard living artist who served as idol, mentor and teacher to Earle. Townes even tried to intervene during Earle's decline. "Imagine. I got a temperance lecture from Townes Van Zandt ."

When Earle takes a show on the road it is a good solid presentation. He has presented his current Townes acoustic show without any other accompaniment with a lot of standard bits, but as he told his audience. "If you come back tomorrow you are going to see pretty much the same show...I don't know if it will be any better but it should be as good."

It was a brilliant evening. I now hand over my reportage to a professional who recounts some of the best stories of the evening.
posted by well-executed buffet at 11:36 PM
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