By:
Howie Klein on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 8:00 PM - PDT
Steve Earle has been a longtime Crooks & Liars fave and with Bush in the Middle East, who could resist the title track from his 2002 masterpiece, Jerusalem? Steve has been involved with socially conscious music since he was a teenager to young to play in bars, writing songs against aggression in Vietnam and against the death penalty. Despite his strong political messages, he’s won two Grammy awards and believe me– I’ve been on the committees that help pick the nominees– strong political writing does not help songwriters. You can only imagine what went on when “John Walker’s Blues” was discussed.
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22 Responses for “C&L’s Late Nite Music Club with Steve Earle”
great pick…..and perfect in light of Bushs bumbling blundering tour….
Steve is one of the great troubadours we’ve got left. I saw him perform this solo acoustic just a couple of weeks ago here, within spitting distance of his old home town. His live shows, with or without backing band, are always outstanding. Now, I’ve got a special request for Howie. Tomorrow, May 17, is the 60th birthday of the greatest troubadour that we do have, Scotland’s bard, Dick Gaughan. Here are a few suggestions I have for tomorrow’s “C&L’s Late Nite Music Club.
Tom Paine’s Bones
The Father’s Song
The John MacLean March
Both Sides the Tweed
And I sincerely hope to see Dick and Steve play together one fine day. Two great troubadours!! Slàinte Dick!!!
A great force.
That was wonderful.
And I’ve always been a fan of Fort Worth Blues.
(We call it Fort Wayne Blues).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
“Strong political writing does not help songwriters…”
Two books I used to show how the protest singers of the ’60’s were suppressed (and even killed) are Alex Constantine’s The Covert War Against Rock and Minstrels of the Dawn by Jerome Rodnitzky. Both referred to Joan Baez during a Japan tour when her interpretor was approached by a couple of CIA agents and threatened in order to get her to tone down the interpretation during the concert. As they knew she would, Joan talked not only about ending the Vietnam war but also about the horrors of nucler war and the necessity for disarmament. And that wasn’t a good thing to discuss then, was it?
I suggest the Constantine book especially. Adventures Unlimite is where I got mine.
Here’s one of my songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Ez9eGD1ZQ
I was honored last evening to sing this and more for the evening encampment of The Longest Walk 2 with Dennis Banks in Texarkana. There’s a subject for discussion!
Since the great spontaneous protest days of “Woody’s Children” in the ’60’s, it has become an FBI prerogative to suppress as much of it as possible. Not all, though; with Viral Video there are more protest songs and singers than ever before.
Last night I got to sing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Ez9eGD1ZQ and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TAOG0CEqRo for Dennis Banks and the Southern Route group of the Longest Walk 2. They spent the evening here in my territory, Texarkana. Dennis took my guitar from me when I offered him the microphone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD50CVckRds I’m only sorry my camera hit its 3-minute limit.
Talk about an effective protest! This is a whole ‘nother subject for Crooks and Liars. I’m wondering why I haven’t seen it here before. [Hint!] –MaryK
I did a gig backing up Chuck Berry at a “Hootenanny” in O.C. Ca that had about 10 other bands playing. Steve Earl was one of the other artists, playing a solo performance. I was fortunate enough to meet him backstage and he was extremely gracious. His performance is extremely authentic and from the heart, and it was nice to hear him in a solo setting. He’s pretty funny too. As he was attempting to get his mandolin in tune he quipped “Mandolin means ‘won’t stay in tune’ in Italian” (probably an old joke amongst bluegrass musicians, but I’d never heard it :-)
Shoot, I thought my first post got lost! Oh, well. Rewrites are always good exercise.
The writing I referred to about the books is my Master’s thesis on the evolution of the ancient Celtic Bards into American protest singers. Hope I can turn that into a book! Earle certainly qualifies as a Bard, and thanks.
marykmusic @ 7:
Maryk, you might be interested in listening to the most recent show of Archie Fisher’s “Travelling Folk” on BBC Radio Scotland. In celebration of Dick Gaughan’s 60th birthday, he had Dick on for the whole two hours. They talk a lot about their influences, lots of messages from other musicians, and lots of great music. Listen Again should be up for at least another week or so here. It’s a great listen.
DG on Travelling Folk
lafin gas-
This for you, where ever you are.
Toronto loves Steve Earle…and for good reason.
The man gives forth wonderful music & inspiring lyrics.
Andy K Jong Il @ 9:
Hay thanks Andy but I quit smokin years ago, I did love the Steve Allan show though and this just shows that rap is not that new!
Yeah, the blogosphere starts now -
tbsn.thesequencers.us
Wackiavelli digs Steve.
“I wake up screaming like I’m back over there”
marykmusic @ 5:
Woody Guthrie song recordings are locked up tight by the Library of Congress, ancient and in the public domain but effectively sealed.
Roy Zimmerman is rather good videos here on Youtube
The Boss. Seems appropriate.
Jay Ferguson: Losing Control (live in Japan) -
http://tbsn.thesequencers.us/?p=181
ferrofluid @ 15:
No, you’re just talking about the original masters. Go to www.woodyguthrie.org and you can get recordings of all of them. This is run by his daughter Nora and the Archives include just about every scrap of paper Woody ever wrote on or drew– he was also an insightful political cartoonist. –MaryK
Yawwwwwwn.
Every December 25th, we do a concert of Jewish Music at our Temple. I’ve performed this song for the last couple of years. While not totally “Jewish” music, I’ve felt that the theme is universal.
If the world was a perfect place, Steve Earle would rule Nashville.
I saw him a few years ago at a local club.
Having broken a string and making patter with the audience as he re-tuned, he said (a REALLY close paraphrase) : “Look people, for a borderline Marxist, I make an embarrassingly large amount of money, so I feel the need to tell you about…”, and then he talked about the US labor movement, and how they were forcibly (by the AFL & CIO) separated from the global labor movement… He talked about our wars, and the economic reasons for them.
A real American outlaw.
First time in years I bought a ‘band shirt’.