Steve Earle (born Stephen Fain Earle January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, well known for his rock and country music, as well as for his many political views. He is also a published writer, a political activist and has written and directed a play. In his early career, he was seen as a saviour of country music and labeled by some as the "new Bruce Springsteen". In the later part of his career, after troubles with the law and drug addiction and due to his uncompromising viewpoints, he has become known as "the hardcore troubadour".
Biography
Stephen Fain Earle was born on January 17, 1955 at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia.
He was the eldest son of Jack Earle, an air traffic controller, and Barbara Earle. Although his parents moved around the U.S. often during his childhood, he spent several of his formative years in Schertz, Texas. He dropped out of school in the 8th grade to move to Houston, Texas and learn more about the music business. Steve released his first album, Guitar Town, in 1986. His sister, Stacey Earle, is a musician herself, having toured with Steve in the 1990s and sang on the song "When I Fall" on Steve's 2000 album "Transcendental Blues."
Earle has been married seven times, including twice to the same woman. His wives were Sandra (Sandy) Henderson, Cynthia Dunn, Carol Hunter (with whom he had his first child, Justin), Lou-Anne Gill (with whom he had a second son, Ian), Maria Teresa Ensenat, Lou-Anne Gill a second time, and finally in 2005, singer songwriter Allison Moorer. He also has a daughter. His first son, Justin Townes Earle, was named for Townes Van Zandt.
Musical career
In 1975, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he met and worked with fellow Texans Guy Clark and his wife Susanna. Guy was instrumental in Steve being employed as a songwriter by the Sunburry Dunbar publishing division of RCA. Steve did backing vocals on Guy Clark's "Desperados Waiting For A Train" together with Emmylou Harris on Clark's first album "Old No 1".
Despite his early success as a songwriter, it was not until 1981 that he achieved a top ten cut with "When You Fall in Love", which was recorded by Johnny Lee.
His early work as a recorded performer was in the rockabilly style, and can be heard on the "Early Years" album. He had to wait until 1986, though, before his first proper album, "Guitar Town", was released. It was a critical success and sold over 300,000 copies. The follow-up albums "Exit 0" and "Copperhead Road" the video for which was directed by Tony van den Ende, built on this success.
Earle had been a drug user since an early age, and was addicted to heroin for many years. By the time of his 1990 album "The Hard Way", it started to become clear that the drugs were seriously affecting him. In 1993, his drug problems resulted in him effectively stopping performing and recording for two years, a period he refers to as his "vacation in the ghetto". He eventually ended up in jail on drug and firearms charges. Kicking the drug habit while in jail, Earle came out a new man and released two albums within 18 months of his release in late 1994. His comeback album, the acoustic Train A Comin', was nominated for the "Best Contemporary Folk Album" Grammy Award in 1996.
Earle's "second, post-jail musical career" has been noticeably more musically diverse than his early work. Since setting up his own record label, he has been able to follow his own artistic direction, rather than being constrained by the Nashville country pop-rock sound. This has led to experimentation with a range of styles from country and bluegrass music to folk and hard rock music. He maintained a strict work ethic. Several albums have been released since, as well as a book of haiku and a collection of short stories called Doghouse Roses. He also wrote and directed a play about the death penalty. Earle also tours often, playing over 200 shows per year. His concerts tend to be either solo acoustic shows or ensemble affairs with one of his two backing bands, the Dukes or the Bluegrass Dukes.
Earle appeared as a recovering drug addict named Walon in two episode of the first season the HBO series "The Wire". He addresses a 12-step-type meeting with an account of how he lost everything to addiction:"I pawned my bike, my pickup truck, a National Steel guitar, lost a good wife, a bad girlfriend, and the respect of anyone who ever lent me money." He has reprised the role occasionally in subsequent seasons.
Earle is the subject of a documentary film entitled Just an American Boy, directed by Amos Poe, which explores his political views as well as his music. In 2005, he caused consternation among his fans by allowing the song "The Revolution Starts Now" to be used by General Motors in a TV advertisement for pick-up trucks.
Earle is also the subject of an acclaimed biography, Steve Earle: Fearless Heart, Outlaw Poet, by the noted New York-based music writer David McGee.
Steve Earle songs have appeared in many major motion pictures and television as writer and performer. Brokeback Mountain (2005) (writer: "Devil's Right Hand") (performer: "Devil's Right Hand") Silver City (2004) (writer: "Amerika v. 6.0") (performer: "Amerika v. 6.0") Stevie (2002) (writer: "I Ain't Ever Satisfied") (performer: "I Ain't Ever Satisfied") The Rookie (2002) (writer: "Some Dreams") (performer: "Some Dreams") Last Party 2000 (2001) (writer: "Over Yonder (Jonathan's Song)") (performer: "Over Yonder (Jonathan's Song)") .. aka The Party's Over (USA: video title) Big Bad Love (2001) (performer: "Goodbye") The Pledge (2001) (writer: "The Other Side of Town") (performer: "The Other Side of Town") Pay It Forward (2000) (writer: "Open Your Window") (performer: "Open Your Window") You Can Count on Me (2000) (writer: "I'm Still In Love With You", "Harlan Man", "Texas Eagle", "The Mountain", "Pilgrim") (performer: "I'm Still In Love With You", "Harlan Man", "Texas Eagle", "The Mountain", "Pilgrim") The Horse Whisperer (1998) (writer: "Me and the Eagle") (performer: "Me and the Eagle") G.I. Jane (1997) (writer: "Goodbye") Sgt. Bilko (1996) (writer: "Sometimes She Forgets") ... aka Sergeant Bilko The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) (performer: "Honey don't") (producer: "Honey don't")
In 2006, several Steve Earle songs were featured in the movie Talladega Nights: "Valentine's Day", "Hard-Core Troubadour" and "I Feel Alright". In 2007, Earle's song, "Someday" off his 1986 hit record, Guitar Town was featured the movie Bridge to Terabithia.
In September, 2007, Steve Earle released his 12th studio album, Washington Square Serenade, on New West Records. Earle recorded the album after relocating to New York City and it was his first attempt at using digital audio workstation ProTools, as opposed to traditional, analog recording techniques. The disc features wife Allison Moorer on "Days Aren't Long Enough."
In late 2007, he will be producing Joan Baez's next album.
In the winter of 2008, he will tour Europe and North America in support of Washington Square Serenade, performing half the set solo and the other half with a DJ.
Politics
Since early in his career, Earle has been involved in a number of political causes. In his first public performances, Earle was unable to play in bars due to his age, and took to playing in coffeehouses alongside anti-Vietnam War campaigners. These experiences had a strong effect on Earle, who later campaigned against the war in Iraq.
Earle's mother took part in anti-death penalty vigils, a cause that has been taken up by Earle. He has worked to abolish the death penalty and has recorded several songs about this cause, including "Billy Austin", "Over Yonder (Jonathan's Song)" and "Ellis Unit One" (for the 1995 movie "Dead Man Walking"). (Ellis Unit, located in Huntsville, Texas, previously housed the Texas male death row, until it was moved to Polunsky Unit near Livingston, Texas.) He is also a regular participant in the "Concerts for a Landmine Free World", benefiting the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.
In recent years his music has been increasingly political. His 2002 album, " Jerusalem," was largely inspired by the U.S.-led War on Terrorism. This album featured Earle's "John Walker's Blues", which was about the captured American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh. The song provoked widespread outrage; many accused Earle of sympathizing with terrorists since the song was written from Lindh's perspective. Earle responded that he was simply empathizing with Lindh and in no way set out to glorify terrorism. The controversy raised Earle's profile in the media, but did not seem to damage his record sales.
His 2004 album, The Revolution Starts Now, which features several songs relating to the war in Iraq, was deliberately released to coincide with the run up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election, with the aim of encouraging votes for John Kerry. Earle's contribution to the Democratic campaign was particularly notable, since country rock is traditionally associated with the right wing. It was therefore hoped that it would be more likely to convert new people to Kerry than other anti-Bush musicians (such as those involved in the Rock Against Bush movement) who might be seen as preaching to the converted, as their fan bases lay in the predominantly left-wing punk rock community. The song "The Revolution Starts Now" was used in the promotion of Michael Moore's anti-war documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 and appears on the album Songs and Artists That Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11, the songs for which were selected by Moore. The song also opens his weekly Sunday-night show on Air America Radio.
