Steve Earle | Artist
Stephen Fain Earle is an American rock, country and folk singer-songwriter, record producer, author and actor born 1955 in Fort Munroe, Hampton Virginia. Earle started his career as a songwriter in Nashville then moved to Texas and formed a band called The Dukes. His first album Guitar Town from 1986 sparked interest which was consolidated with 1988's superb Copperhead Road. Released on Uni Records, Copperhead Road has been described as "a quixotic project that mixed a lyrical folk tradition with hard rock and eclectic Irish influences". The album's title track portrays a Vietnam veteran who uses his family background in running moonshine to become a marijuana grower/seller. It was Earle's highest-peaking song to date in the United States and has sold millions of digital copies. Following his rapid rise to fame resulting from these early albums, Earle disappeared from public life for three years, before re-appearing in 1990 with a new album The Hard Way. To-date Earle has release 22 studio albums, standouts albums include Guitar Town, Copperhead Road, Train a Comin', I Feel Alright, El Coraz贸n, Transcendental Blues, Washington Square Serenade and Ghosts of West Virginia. In addition to his house band The Dukes, Earle has collaborated with the alt-Bluegrass outfit the Del McCoury Band, and punk-country band Supersuckers. The album El Coraz贸n featured both of these collaborators, plus Earle cut the excellent Steve Earle & The Supersuckers EP with Supersuckers. In addition, Irish band The Pogues, featured on Earle's early album Copperhead Road. Steve Earle has a musically gifted family, his son is the talented neo-country artist Justin Townes Earle, his sister Stacey Earle is Americana artist, and between 2005-14 Earle was married to American country singer Allison Moorer. Earle has been married seven times, including twice to the same woman. As a political activist, Earle is a vocal opponent of capital punishment. Several of his songs have provided descriptions of the experiences of death row inmates, including Billy Austin and Over Yonder ("Jonathan's Song"). He also wrote the song "Ellis Unit One" from the perspective of a prison guard working on death row, used in the Tim Robbins film Dead Man Walking.
Artist Website: steveearle.com
Featured Albums: Steve Earle
Related Artists: Steve Earle & The Dukes, Justine Townes Earle, Supersuckers, Allison Moorer, The Del McCoury Band, Guy Clark
