Synchronicity amazes me sometimes.
I haven’t rolled an album by Steve Earle on the Odyssey since September 2012, but
on the same day I purchase tickets to go see him in concert I came home and rolled this
next album.
Disc 616 is…. Guitar Town
Artist: Steve
Earle
Year of Release: 1986
What’s up with the Cover? Wow, there was a
time when Steve Earle did not look like a hobo. He looks a little apprehensive
as well, probably thinking that while the miles lay long behind him, he has
still got miles to go. Don’t we all,
Steve.
How I Came To Know It: I think my Mom or my Stepdad Lawrence owned this
album. They didn’t put it on that often, but I really liked it, and played it
all the time.
How It Stacks Up: I have 17 Steve Earle albums, but one is a live
album and one is an album of cover songs, so I’ll stack this up against the
remaining 15. I’ll put it third best, right behind “Exit O” (reviewed back at Disc 423) and “I Feel
Alright” (reviewed way back at Disc 14). I originally had it tied for second with “Exit 0” but I’ve gotta put
it just a hair short.
Rating: 5 stars
The Nashville establishment would
have been very happy if Steve Earle’s sound had never evolved beyond what he
does on “Guitar Town,” his 1986 debut. Instead, over the next almost thirty
years, Earle has dabbled in rock, bluegrass, roots music and written folk songs
protesting about most things the Nashville establishment think are laudatory. Unlike
the Nashville establishment, I’ve enjoyed every twist and turn of Earle’s
musical journey, but I will still agree with them about “Guitar Town’s”
brilliance.
“Guitar Town” is a subtle blend of
very traditional Hank Williams type traditional country with a twist of heartland
rock ballad that Bruce Springsteen would be proud of. The songs are sparsely
arranged, and for the most part rely on basic guitar picking and strumming and
Earle’s heartfelt vocals.
Earle is a strong guitar player, and
his band – the Dukes – is polished and skillful (and sadly not credited on the
cover). While Earle’s voice isn’t going to win any singing competitions, he
writes songs that play to his strengths and he sings them with a conviction
that is second to none.
The album is exceptionally mature
for a debut, which isn’t that surprising given that Earle was already 31 years
old when it was released. He had already been kicking around various music
scenes, learning from fellow greats Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, and his
songwriting craft was well developed by the time the soulless record execs finally
gave him a shot.
Lyrically, this record speaks
deeply to me, partly because it has been in my life so long (since its release),
partly because it reminds me of what it is like to live in a small town with
dreams of getting out. Mostly it speaks deeply to me because it is so damned
good.
Earle writes what he knows, with
songs like “Little Rock ‘n’ Roller”, “Hillbilly Highway” and “Guitar Town” about the life of the
travelling troubadour. “Guitar Town” in
particular is a masterpiece of a song, with its simple, but instantly
recognizable guitar strum and boundless energy.
The enthusiasm for this lifestyle
is poignantly countered by the stories of those who haven’t yet found an
opportunity to follow their dreams. “Someday”
is the finest of these, beginning:
“There ain’t a lot you can do in this town
You drive down to the lake and then you turn back around
You go to school and you learn to read and write
So you can walk into the county bank and sign away your
life.”
While the song later evokes images
of small-town Texas (filling stations on the interstate, and the dreams of
getting a football scholarship) those opening lines could be any tiny town in
North America, including the one I’m from. I have literally driven down to the
lake and then turned back around, just to have something to do.
Relationship troubles also feature
throughout the record, including the grim finality of “Goodbye’s All We’ve Got Left to Say” and the quiet resignation of “My Old Friend the Blues” but Earle is at
his core, an optimist. For all the broken hearts and broken dreams that “Guitar
Town” presents us, most of the songs present us with the hope for a brighter
tomorrow. The final stanza of the final song on the album, “Down the Road” puts the responsibility
for seizing that brighter tomorrow squarely in his listener’s hands:
“Though the miles lay long behind you
You have still got miles to go
How’s love ever gonna find you
If it ain’t here it’s down the road.
Keep on lookin’ down the road.”
The album came out the same year as
Dwight Yoakam’s debut “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.” and it has some of the
same rockin’ twang. I recall at the time they were often lumped together by a
lot music reviewers at the time. While I like Yoakam’s music, “Guitar Town” has
an emotional weight to it that puts it a cut above not only similar offerings
at the time, but most of what has come since. I’ve seen Earle in concert multiple
times in the last ten years. Songs from “Guitar Town” still make it into his
ever-changing set list, and still sound as fresh and compelling as they ever
have.
Best tracks: All the
tracks are good, and while I don’t personally like “Little Rock ‘n’ Roller” it is a good song by objective standards.
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