Steve Earle had a hot minute of fame as a country artist when Guitar Town was released in 1986. He is a gifted songwriter who seems to me a practitioner of the Cosmic American Music in the vein of folk, bluegrass, country, blues, and rock. We went to see him with his hot supporting band (“the Dukes”) last night for a packed, sold-out show at the Dakota in Minneapolis. I snapped the photo below from our table.
By his own account, Earle has released nearly an album a year since getting sober in the mid- 1990’s. His most recent is Jerry Jeff, a tribute to Jerry Jeff Walker. He performed several of the numbers from that album before returning to his own material over his two-hour set last night.
Sitting up against the stage directly opposite Earle, I found him to be a riveting and charismatic performer. About five songs in, I thought that the show was a not-to-be-missed event — that it set some kind of a benchmark for live music. It was mostly loud and entirely intense. I thought his devotion and loyalty to the music were shining through.
Earle is on a long tour with his band. His site is here. Upcoming dates are listed here.
He has taken up many political causes over the course of his career. All of them are uncongenial to me. I had my guard up, but he didn’t utter a hint of politics until the preface to his encore, which implied his views in an inoffensive and conciliatory style.
After playing several terrific songs from Jerry Jeff, Earle launched into “Someday,” “Guitar Town,” and other highlights from his long career. “Goodbye,” “Ben McCulloch,” “Copperhead Road,” and “Transcendental Blues” stood out for me last night. Introducing “Someday” after the Jerry Jeff songs, he said, “I didn’t want you to think I didn’t learn anything from him.”
Shawn Colvin helped me hear the song in her beautiful 1994 cover. It’s her story too.
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