POLL: Steve Earle discography

really loving all of those albums thanks JiC. Still holding Transcendental Blues in the top spot tho.

Guitar Town maybe a little less at first but mostly due to production. then i noticed on spotify they have the 30th ann edition and it sounds much more full.

i def like those other albums more tho.

Going to listen to El Corazon next, and then Copperhead Road.

Guitar Town has a lot of Tom Petty sound to it idk

my frame of reference on stuff like this is limited, mind.

El Corazon and Transcendental Blues are my two favorites (by a pretty good distance) but you really can't go wrong with any of his first 5 post-prison albums (Train -> TB, and including The Mountain). the dude got an incredible roll.

you can skip from Jerusalem on, however...

got *on* an incredible roll.

Transcendental Blues was my first Steve Earle iirc, Copperhead Road second favorite. Johnny Come Lately with the Pogues is so fun even if I can barely remember a time when I listened to it regularly. Time flies!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVaPwdgezWI

Train a Comin -- forgot about that one! Ben McCulloch is so good. I Feel Alright is great too!!
I was sitting here struggling to remember the name of the song Hardcore Troubadour. He has so many good songs!

this live from the '80s rendition of Devil's Right Hand!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS2LIHBRotE

Earle has cited Born in the USA as the main inspiration for Guitar Town, and it's interesting to listen to it through that lens.

look at him in that video!!!
the band even sounds like the e street band

Earle has cited Born in the USA as the main inspiration for Guitar Town, and it's interesting to listen to it through that lens.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, January 9, 2019 10:57 AM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this makes sense.

watching this whole austin concert now thx LL

Guitar Town>I Feel Alright>Exit 0>Train A Comin>Copperhead Road>everything else

I Feel Alright is probably one of the best comeback albums ever

whoa whoa whoa dude where is transcendental blues on your list!

ums obviously likes his Earle more hardcore troubadour than zen folkie

yeah I like him within generally the country genre more than being adventurous, will admit that i have not heard transcendental blues in a very very long time

He told a funny story about Springsteen coming to see him c. "Guitar Town." Earle reacted by covering "State Trooper," and supposedly Bruce went up to him and just said "that was pretty ballsy."

"I Feel Alright" has one of my all-time favorite badass lines: "Be careful what you wish for friend/'Cause I've been to hell and now I'm back again."

Steve Earle has always been super ballsy <3 sometimes to his detriment, I'm sure

I love the production on I Feel Alright , taking the sound of “Honky Tonk Women” to further extremes. “Hard Core Troubadour” is the apex, how the guitar strings snap, like a leashed dog snapping at you. “Poor Boy” is a close second, but while the sound is still sticky the song’s more Liverpool.

I was really into this guy back in the day. I lost faith with the cornier numbers on El Corazón (“Poison Lovers” eg) but I should revisit it all now that twenty years have passed.

I was a big fan during the I Feel Alright through Transcendental Blues run, and then my attention flagged after that. The few times I've checked in on him in the years since--his much ballyhooed John Walker Lindh song, the Townes Van Zandt covers record--I thought he sounded generally exhausted, but as a human being, in his post-recovery years, he has to be one of the most laudable musicians we have (I usually hesitate to say things like this, as they are inevitably to be followed by news of some indefensible quote or incident that I missed, but in his case, knowing what I know about his integrity and activism, I feel pretty secure).

My fave song of his (if pressed to chose one):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbi2rMQveHo

I always sort of forget that Earle was once played on Country radio. I remember him telling a story (in the book Rednecks and Bluenecks) about a drunken Ronnie Dunn (from Brooks & Dunn) yelling at him about Sharia Law at a party.

last night i played some steve earle songs just for fun and 1) wow those songs are fun to play 2) they are easy 3) in the event that steve earle wants to try something new and loud, how about a crazy horse-style extended jam scenario (trancendental blues made me think this was a good idea -- i haven't listened to that song in probably a decade but man it is so good!! the drums sound a little canned at first but we can fix that in our jam scenario)

As far as perfectly constructed songs go--nothing missing, no room for any additions--The Devil's Right Hand is way up there. Lyrically, melodically airtight.

I think that's key. The relative simplicity of Earle's music really underscores that idea of The Songwriter. It's his lyrics and melodies that sell the songs, save the occasional iconic lick like the one in "Guitar Town."

I've told it before, probably, but I once sat in on a series of classes he taught at the Old Town School of Folk Music. The first was on Woody Guthrie. The second was on Dylan, including what he took from Woody. The third was on Springsteen and what he took from Dylan. The last was on Earle and what he took from all of them.

Hey, check it out!

http://insurgentcountry.net/steve_earle_at_the_old_town_school.htm

Just now getting around to his Guy Clark homage album. Man, his voice is shit now. :(

Yeah I did not care for this album at all