Trollheart

PART II: THE REVOLUTION STARTS....
Obviously energised by his release back into society, Steve kept up the pressure and the next year saw the release of what I personally believe to be one of his finest albums, 1997's “El corazon”. Spanish for heart, the title said it all, and the songs are certainly written from the heart. A lighter tone characterises the album, though you wouldn't guess it from opener “Christmas in Washington”, a politically-heavy fugue, or second track, “Taneytown”, addressing racial segration, but the bulk of the songs are stories of love and life, like “I still carry you around”, “If you fall”, “Somewhere out there” and “Here I am”, with some positively fun ones like “You know the rest” and “NYC”. This is an album of songs by a man who has testified, repented and made amends, and now just wants to get back to having a good time making music. Steve also employed the talents of the Del McCoury Band on one of the tracks here, an outfit with whom he would later collaborate on an entire album, “The Mountain”. I can't comment on that album, as I haven't heard it, but I believe it was basically bluegrass in nature, and well received.

Halfway through the first year of the new millennium and I had a definite favourite Steve Earle album. “Transcendental Blues” is a real return to form for Steve, featuring two “Irish” songs, the exuberant “Steve's last ramble”, on which he's accompanied by accordion star Sharon Shannon, and she also contributes to “The Galway girl”, another fine piece of songwriting, and damn good fun! The album has its darker side though, particularly the closer, “Over yonder (Jonathan's song)”, which again tackles the subject of the death penalty. This song was in fact based on a real person, whom Earle wrote to in prison and whose execution, at the prisoner's request, he attended. It's a powerful, emotional song, carrying as it does the last wishes and testament of the condemned man: ”Send my bible home to momma/ Call her every now and then” and where he apologises to his victim(s) and those left behind to mourn them: ”The world'll turn around without me/ Sun'll come up in the east/ Shinin' down on those who hate me/ I hope my going gives 'em peace.” You can't help but be moved. The only low point on the album, for me, is “The boy who never cried”. It's a doomy, plodding, quite boring and frankly monotonous song, which does not belong on this, or indeed any Steve Earle album. I've listened to it quite a few times, trying to like it, trying to see if there is something there I'm missing, but it now induces me to press the SKIP button whenever I spin this album. On balance though, definitely in the top three Steve Earle albums in my opinion.

It was two years before Steve's next album, and to be perfectly honest, I was disappointed. After the unshackled brilliance of “Transcendental blues”, I found “Jerusalem” very much lacking. There are good songs on it, but few great ones. It's based on a concept of America post-9/11, and this is reflected in the second track, “Amerika v 6.0”. Subtitled (“the best that we can do”) it's fairly obvious that the spelling of America is meant to reflect a sort of shadowy neo-Nazi/far right political force which Earle believes (probably quite rightly) is threatening the American way of life, and capitalising on the tragedy of the September 11th attacks. It's a harsh, unforgiving song, with little time for the “America the brave” jingoism that characterised much of the output from the US in the years 2001-2002. The lyric speaks for itself: ”There's doctors down on Wall Street/ Sharpenin' their scalpels and tryin' to cut a deal/ Meanwhile, back at the hospital/ We got accountants playin' God and countin' out the pills/ Yeah, I know, that sucks – that your HMO/ Ain't doin' what you thought it would do...”

The tone of the album doesn't really lighten, except for one or two tracks like “I remember you” with backing vocals by the great Emmylou Harris, “Go Amanda” (with help from Sheryl Crow) and the closer and title track. It's an album for realists, and there's little hope, false or otherwise, there. Steve plays a virtual plethora of instruments on the album, from guitar and mandolin to bass, organ and harmonica, and yet still assembles a full band, including one Patrick Earle on drums. Whether he's a relation to Steve or not I don't know, though his sister Stacey does sing on “Transcendental blues”.

This ain't an album you put on if you're a) a flag-waving patriot or b) depressed and want to cheer up, but it's a very gritty, powerful, outspoken and indeed brave recording, in particular the inclusion of “John Walker's blues”, which as already mentioned was about an American, John Walker Lindh, who “defected” to join the Taliban, and was therefore considered a traitor by most Americans. Steve takes a very straightforward and non-partisan look at what makes someone do such a thing, but of course even though he was careful not to be seen to be supporting terrorism, he got accused of it anyway, leading him to remark that he was simply empathizing with Lindh and attempting to understand his motivation through song rather than glorifying or forgiving terrorism. He said that, as a parent, he was moved by pictures of Lindh bound to a stretcher. "For some reason when I saw him on TV, I related it to my son. That skinny and that age, exactly. I thought, he's got parents somewhere, and they must be sick.” (Courtesy Wikipedia, from David McGee's “Steve Earle: Fearless heart, outlaw poet”)

Steve's next release would be two years later again, when in 2004 he unleashed “The revolution starts now”, timed as it happened to coincide with the eventually failed (ie doomed) presidential bid by Democratic candidate John Kerry. The album is bracketed by tracks entitled “The revolution starts...” as an opener and the full title track for the closer, and features a lot of (as expected) songs directed against the war against terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and US foreign policy in general. Songs like “The gringo's tale”, “Rich man's war”, “Warrior” and the hilariously tongue-in-cheek-insult of “Condi, Condi” all form part of Steve's mission statement for this album. But it has its lighter side too. “Home to Houston” is the tale of a trucker working in Iraq who just wants to get back home, while “I thought you should know” is a beautiful little piece of bittersweet country waltz, which would be at home in the hands of Willie Nelson, Randy Travis or even the late great Man in Black himself. Superb.

But the best track on the album I believe is the side-splittingly titled “F the CC”, which contains the glorious lyric ”F**k the FCC/ F**k the FBI/ F**k the CIA/ Livin' in the motherf**kin' USA!” Oh Steve, you devil! I'm sure many artists would agree with you. Again we see Patrick Earle in the credits, drumming away, and I'm beginning to feel like this may be Steve's own son?

Three years later, and having scooped a Grammy for “The revolution”, Steve returned with “Washington Square serenade”, itself also winning a Grammy, and the first of his albums to feature his current (and seventh!) wife, Alison Moorer, on one of the tracks, “Days aren't long enough”. It's a powerful album, continuing many of the themes explored on the previous outing, with probably one of the best tracks on it being the almost nuclear-angry “Red is the colour”, on which you can just sense the veins throbbing on Earle's powerful neck as he spits out ”Bad news everybody talkin’ ‘bout/ A short fuse a half an inch from burnin’ out/ All used up beyond a reasonable doubt/ Make way for his majesty the prodigal king/ Still taste the poison when you’re kissin’ the ring/ Don’t say he never gave you anything !”

That aside though, the highlight for me is that he includes a really good cover of one of Tom Waits' songs, “Way down in the hole”, from “Frank's wild years”. Apparently his version of the song replaced the one used on seasons 1-4 of the TV show “The Wire” for the final season 5, and Steve himself played a recurring character in the show. Oh yeah, and checking down the personnel list, there he is again: Patrick Earle on drums!

It's been four years since Steve released another album, putting aside the tribute to his friend and mentor Townes Van Zandt, released in 2009, but this year he's back with a new one. I haven't yet heard a chance to hear “I'll never get out of this world alive”, but I'm hoping it's a continuation of the excellence shown on his last few records. Once I get to listen to it a few times you can bet it'll be here on my journal to be reviewed.

So that's our first “Centre Stage” entry written and posted. Definitely one of my favourite singers and songwriters; musician, writer, poet, activist, actor and all-round good guy. If you haven't checked Steve Earle out up to now, hopefully the writeup and the Youtube extracts here have convinced you to give him a try. You won't be sorry. So, if you “Feel alright” and are in need of some “Transcendental blues”, mosey on down to “Copperhead Road”, cos there's a “Train a-comin'” and it's headed non-stop right into the heart of “Guitar Town”. The revolution starts now!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018