Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Steve Earle - Concert Preview

I'm going to see Steve Earle on Friday night here in Houston. I've never seen him live, but I have heard lots of good things, and I have some bootlegs of his live shows. He's been playing a lot of the songs off his latest release "Washington Square Serenade" on this tour, and that suits me just fine because that is a killer CD. I'm going to try to play "Steve Earle Bingo" on Friday night. Here are some potential categories/phrases I could look for:


  1. number of songs he sings that contain the word "devil"

  2. number of times during banter between songs that he says something even vaguely communist or socialist

  3. number of New York references

  4. number of Texas references

For those of you who are not familiar with Steve Earle, he's a singer-songwriter who was raised in Shertz, TX (outside of San Antonio) and he's been around for a lot of years. He's only had one hit song, Copperhead Road (in 1988), but he's consistently put out good music. You also might be familiar with "Ellis Unit One" from the movie Dead Man Walking (he's been an active death penalty opponent). His recent CDs have been a bit political, but his newest release is a more personal CD, and it's main subject matter is his new home, New York City, and his new wife, fellow singer-songwriter Allison Moorer (who is also his opening act on this tour, and sings backup on a few songs on the new CD). Anyway, if he's coming to your town, try to check him out. I would try to put a music clip in here, but I still haven't gotten around to figuring that out yet. Check out the amazon link above - I think you can play links from their site.

If you have any other good ideas for "Steve Earle Bingo" or if you have any over-under bets for any of the categories above, leave 'em in the comments. My guesses are as follows:

  1. 6
  2. 3
  3. 8
  4. 10

1 comment:

Taxman said...

You are in for a treat. I've seen Steve Earle 5 times. Always good and often great. No one mixes it up like him in the same show from electric jamming to acoustic ballads to bluegrass jams with mandolin and banjo, etc.

i have to say i was late to the game on Washington Square Serenade but holy crap - that really is a killer album...it has been the #1 album played both in my office and home for the past 6 weeks. One of the finest albums i have heard in a long, long time and it has probably cracked my top 3 of Steve Earle albums.

i have also seen Allison Moorer on tour (about 2 years ago) and she is a fine guitarist and musician in her own right. Also one of the sweetest vocalists around which certainly enhances Washington Square Serenade. Her vocals accompany Earle all over that album.

Get prepared for some political diatribes assman - even a lefty commie like you may be yelling at him to just shut up and play the damn song! Despite the lectures, it will be well worth it for you. Enjoy.