Steve Earle anniversary release is an education!

Country Music Reviews

Steve Earle :
Copperhead Road - Deluxe Edition

Twenty years ago, before "hat acts" took over Country music, Steve Earle was laying down tracks that have already outlasted everything Garth, Alan and George and the rest have produced.

In those days, his rough edged sound wasn't seen as Country music. Critics of the day said Earle played hippy music; much of his stuff was, they said, drug induced and dangerous; the lyrics were - some said - treason against the state.

Yet, listening again to "Copperhead Road" tonight, I find myself wishing that Nashville - Country music - had paid more heed to Earle. Paid more heed to the roots nature of his music, to the way he uses words with no half measures, no dilution to fit the scan or the music; the way he uses instruments to back the songs!

I wish those who  went on to become the movers and shakers on Music Row had listened to the way Earle produced the same songs when he took to the stage, giving the live performances some extra edge without losing the feel of the songs, even adding to it.

That ethos is such a far cry from what Nashville offers these days: now it seems, artists are more concerned about getting their stage  appearances to sound identical to their CD releases. That takes out all the spontaneity which gives a stage show it's character.

The perfect example of that here is Rodney Crowell's "Brown and Root" played live at a gig in Raleigh, North Carolina, November 18, 1987.

First, there's a blast of unwanted feedback. Today's Nashville producer's would have to edit that out! Worse, the guitars sound a little out of tune here and there. No problem in Nashville today: just take the pitch adjuster and retune them on the master. (Heck, I can do that in my tiny studio).

Even worse, Earle loses the tune here and there. Again, a couple of hours work in the mixing studio and the problem would be solved so far as Nashville is concerned.

Not here. To their credit, MCA/Ume have left it well alone. So you know it's a live take. The errors add to the feel. These are real people singing live, playing real bum notes.

These days, acts take to the stage and sing through sophisticated computerized gear which keeps their vocals in tune no matter how badly they are actually singing. It's not REAL!  Concert producers want their acts to sing the song to CD and studio perfection every time.

And that's the genuis of this anniversary release: MCA/Ume have dug out recordings of Earle live on stage at around the same time as "Copperhead Road" was recorded and released, and it's an education!!

First, you get a re-release of Earle's third studio album in all it's majesty. From the title track - now a long-time roots Country classic - through the sixties style "You Belong To Me" to the Dylanesque "Nothing But A Child", this is classic music.

My favorite back when I first heard this album was "Johnny Come Lately". Earle berates war with this song about World War 2.  The strange thing is that, take the timeline and the location out of the lyrics, and this could be sung about Iraq, or Afghanistan. So, anti-war protests are timeless things. Now there's a surprise (NOT!)

"The Devil's Right Hand" - one of  the finest songs written in the 80's - always came a close second. It never was intended as an anti-gun song, though many took it that way. In Earle's own words, it's "just a song about a juvenile delinquent". Despite that, the gun lobby took mighty objection to the suggestion in the lyrics that Momma said "the pistol is the devil's right hand."

Maybe I'm getting old, but "Nothing But A Child" is the finest nativity song I've ever heard! The harmonies provided by Maria McKee, of Lone Justice fame, are astonishing. Earle ought to put it out again this year, so long as he doesn't mind only reaching number 2. (I'll be at number 1, but more of that in October!!).

So - if you've heard Earle's best stuff before - you listen to the studio album and reacquaint yourself with Earle's music. If you've not heard it before, you listen and get to know what the man was about back in 1988.

Then you hit the second CD and the music comes alive in a series of concert recordings.

THE highlight here is the solo version of "Johnny Come Lately". Just Earle, guitar and vocals. It is sublime.

The live version of "Copperhead Road" is better than the studio take and many will recognise "Guitar Town".

This whole release really is an education that would teach many of those producers who churn out celebrity-TV-show-Nashpop in Nashville these days a valuable lesson.

The sad fact is that most of them would deny this is Country music at all. Which speaks volumes about their knowledge of the music they claim to produce! It is.

The good news is that there are bands and artists out there who did take on board the ground Earle was breaking in the 1980's. They don't often reach the "heights" of the Billboard charts, but they are heard by millions of true Country fans.

Check this album out if you have any affection for real Country Music.

If you're into Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill or Kenny Chesney - steer well clear!

My View: The master is rightly honored by his label. I hope he makes a mint out of this re-release!

What do YOU think?? Tell us here!