I’m a bit worn out after a hard
week at work, but the weekend is here. It is even here early, since I’m off
today! I am looking forward to recharging my batteries doing things I enjoy,
starting with writing this blog entry. I only wish I had enjoyed the album
more.
Disc 980 is…Terraplane
Artist: Steve
Earle
Year of Release: 2015
What’s up with the Cover? After all those Drive-By Trucker
albums featuring killer art by Wes Freed I had almost forgotten that Steve
Earle has been putting the horrible art of Tony Fitzpatrick on his covers for
decades.
This
cover features a Terraplane, which was a car made by the Hudson Motor Car
Company from 1932 to 1938. Legendary bluesman Robert Johnson featured it in a
song called “Terraplane Blues” in 1936 which may be the connection here.
It looks
like after Fitzpatrick painted this one he left to go answer the phone and
while he was gone his kids doodled all over it.
How I Came To Know It: This was just me buying Steve
Earle’s latest album on faith. I’ve done that with this record and then again
with 2016’s “Colvin & Earle” (reviewed back at Disc 921). Steve’s
going to have to earn the next one.
How It Stacks Up: Not counting Earle’s album of Townes Van Zandt
covers (which is awesome, but hard to stack up) I have 16 Steve Earle albums.
“Terraplane” comes in dead last at #16.
Ratings: 2 stars
Long-time
readers will know I am a huge Steve Earle fan. I’ve seen him in concert four
times and next time he comes to town, I will go again. It is rare that I have
anything bad to say about him. I guess there is a time for everything.
After
years of skirting multiple genres, “Terraplane” is primarily a blues album, and
Earle’s love for the blues is evident throughout, as he plays around with most
(if not all) of the various styles that make up the blues. I like the blues
well enough, and I also like it when artists keep things interesting for
themselves and – by extension – their audience. But it wasn’t the musical style
of “Terraplane” that put me off. It wasn’t even Earle’s delivery or
musicianship; he plays with heart and grit. I just didn’t like these songs all
that much.
Earle
plays with a grimy and raw quality that makes it feel somewhere between someone
playing in a cheap dive bar and a street busker. I think this is what he was
going for, but it just felt like one more bluesman, ambling his way around and
hoping to pick up a few tips. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but as a devoted
fan of Earle’s for over thirty years, I’ve come to expect better.
“Terraplane”
is also a break up album, being written in the wake of his divorce from his
seventh wife, singer/songwriter Allison Moorer. She also did a breakup album
called “Down to Believing.” You can check out the title track here.
Sometimes
a break up album can bring the best out of an artist, but “Terraplane” feels
like an idle exploration of those feelings, more interested in exploring the blues
than with internal exploration. It is there, but it feels like a junior
partner. Songs like “You’re the Best
Lover That I Ever Had” and “Baby’s
Just as Mean as Me” both feel have catchy rhythms (few know how to build a
song better than Earle), but I didn’t feel the heart behind them like I wanted
to.
Musically
the most interesting song is “Better Off
Alone.” This track could’ve been great, and with those seven marriages
under his belt Earle has miles of material to draw from. It also has Earle
backing away from the blues and going back to his pocket of roots folk. Despite
how much I want to like it, every time I hear this line:
“And though
I taught you everything you know
I learned a thing or two myself
and so
I’m gonna miss you when you’re
gone.”
I find
it jarring. If this is just a character amalgamated from Earle’s various
experiences, then the rest of this song’s ‘mea culpa’ feel fails when the singer
suggests he was the only one teaching anything to his partner. If it is
specifically about Moorer – a talent in her own right for some time – it’s just
unfair. And lest you think that third line balances it all out, go read it
again. The narrator learned some things, but he’s not indicating from whom –
just as likely it is from himself. I know Earle is hurting – at his last show
you could feel it bleeding off the stage – but as Kris Kristoffersen once said:
“Don't ever cuss that fiddle, boy
Unless you want that fiddle out
of tune
That picker there in trouble, boy
Ain't nothin' but another side of
you.”
Later on
the record there are a couple of songs I enjoyed, including the old-timey “Gamblin’ Blues” and the more rock-driven
“Go-Go Boots Are Back.” I was looking
forward to doing a playlist of songs featuring go-go boots (with this one, plus
Mudcrutch’s “Queen of the Go-Go Boots”
and the Drive-By Truckers’ “Go-Go Boots”.
That’s not likely to happen though, because for the first time in 30 years ever
I find myself willing to part with a Steve Earle album.
Instead,
I’m going to go check out Allison Moorer’s album and see how it holds up. In
the face of tragedy, it seems only fair to give everyone equal time. That one
song I linked to above is promising, and I’d like to hear more.
Best
tracks: Go-Go
Boots Are Back, Gamblin’ Blues
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