Steve Earle

A singer and songwriter who straddled the line between country and rock, Steve Earle, born January 17, 1955 in Ft. Monroe, Virginia began his career in 1975 when he moved to Nashville, Tennessee. It was there he met his mentors Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, who helped get him a songwriting contract at RCA and write songs for the likes of Carl Perkins, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, and many more. He sang backing vocals with Emmylou Harris on Guy Clark's “Desperados Waiting for a Train” before launching his own career in 1986 with the country blues album Guitar Town, achieving his major breakthrough in 1988 with the album Copperhead Road. Drug problems hampered his career, and he spent a period in jail on firearms and drug charges. He re-emerged in 1994 with the acclaimed album Train a Comin' and diversified greatly, drawing on everything from blues and rockabilly to bluegrass and rock and becoming increasingly political in his writing while touring constantly. After moving to New York, Earle recorded 2007’s Washington Square Serenade featuring his wife Allison Moorer, which included a cover of Tom Waits' “Way Down in the Hole”, which was used as the opening theme for the final season of The Wire in which he also acted. In 2011 he released the T-Bone Burnett produced I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, which is also the title of his first published novel. In 2015 he released his 16th studio album Terraplane followed by an album of duets with Shawn Colvin titled Colvin and Earle. He followed this with So You Wannabe an Outlaw from Steve Earle and the Dukes in 2019. After his son, Justin Townes Earle, passed away in 2020, Steve Earle reconvened The Dukes to record J.T., a tribute album that consisted entirely of songs written by Justin that was released in 2021.

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