Moorer, Earle welcome son

Blood

Allison Moorer's new disc, billed as a "companion piece" to her recently published memoir of the same title, stands powerfully as a "musical memoir" on its own. Moorer is a gifted singer and songwriter, but the book and album tell a real-life story that she has struggled for more than three decades to come to grips with. Tragedy struck Moorer at the age of 14 when her father, Franklin Moorer, a musician and alcoholic with abusive tendencies, shot his wife Lynn (the ...

GUY

A decade after recording his tribute to Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle has released an album of Guy Clark covers. It includes, perhaps, Clark's best-known songs, "L.A. Freeway" and "Desperados Waiting For A Train," as well as a slew of songs not known quite so well. Most significantly, it's an album that showcases the breadth of Clark's work. Clark was a songwriter's songwriter, something many of the best Americana songwriters - including Earle - know well. ...

So You Wanna Be An Outlaw

If Steve Earle had never done another album after "Guitar Town" and "Copperhead Road," he'd still have cemented his place in the musical firmament for skillfully creating a ragged and beautiful tapestry from the stray threads of rootsy rock and authentic country. And that may well be why his catalog over the past three decades has been so compelling and satisfying; he has consistently proven that he has nothing to prove. "So You Wannabe an Outlaw" is the latest ...