Earle's "Guitar Town" celebrates 30th anniversary with re-issue

Wednesday, October 5, 2016 – Three decades later, "Guitar Town," the disc that launched Steve Earle is back.

MCA Nashville/UMe will release a deluxe edition of the album on CD and digital on Oct. 14. The two-disc set will feature the album remastered from the original tapes by Robert Vosgien along with a previously unreleased 19-song live show recorded on the "Guitar Town" tour at the Park West in Chicago in 1986 and expanded liner notes.

Earle will be playing "Guitar Town" in its entirety at a handful of U.S. shows as well as on an extensive Canadian tour this fall. This past Thursday, ahead of his annual performance at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, Earle and his band The played the disc at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

In October, Earle will join Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller and The Milk Carton Kids for the Lampedusa Concerts for Refugees tour, Oct. 12-21. The tour is intended to raise awareness of the unprecedented worldwide refugee crisis with funds raised by Lampedusa going to support educational programs for refugees around the world.

After nearly a decade kicking around Nashville, playing bass in Guy Clark's band and working at a publishing house as a staff songwriter with some mid-level chart success, Earle combined energy with a bit of a rock edge on "Guitar Town." When released on March 5. 1986, the album produced by Emory Gordy, Jr. and Tony Brown confused radio programmers who didn't know where to place it, deriding it as too rock for country and too country for rock.

"Guitar Town" went on to hit number one on Billboard's Country Albums chart and garnered two Grammy Award nominations for Earle - Best Male Country Vocalist and Best Country Song for the album's title track, which reached number seven on Billboard's Country Singles chart.

The live album features Earle and his band - Bucky Baxter and Michael McAdam on guitars, Reno Kling on bass, Ken Moore on keyboards and Harry Stinson on drums. The disc includes from the then-unreleased sophomore album, "Exit 0" and a cover of Springsteen's "State Trooper." Earle took the stage for the third encore of the night with an acoustic guitar for "No. 29."

Tracks are:
Disc One - Original Album
1. Guitar Town
2. Goodbye's All We've Got Left
3. Hillbilly Highway
4. Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough)
5. My Old Friend The Blues
6. Someday
7. Think It Over
8. Fearless Heart
9. Little Rock 'N' Roller
10. Down The Road DISC TWO - LIVE AT PARK WEST, CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 15, 1986
1. Guitar Town
2. Sweet Little '66
3. Goodbye's All We've Got Left To Say
4. Hillbilly Highway
5. My Old Friend The Blues
6. Good Ol' Boy (Getting' Tough)
7. Someday
8. Think It Over
9. Little Rock 'N' Roller
10. State Trooper
11. The Week Of Living Dangerously
12. Angry Young Man
13. Nowhere Road
14. Fearless Heart
15. I Love You Too Much
16. San Antonio Girl
17. The Devil's Right Hand
18. Down The Road
19. No. 29

Steve Earle - Live at Park West, Chicago, Il - August 15, 1986 Vinyl Edition

Side A
1. Guitar Town
2. Sweet Little '66
3. Goodbye's All We've Got Left To Say
4. Hillbilly Highway
5. My Old Friend The Blues

Side B
6. Good Ol' Boy (Getting' Tough)
7. Someday
8. Think It Over 9. Little Rock 'N' Roller

Side C
10. State Trooper
11. The Week Of Living Dangerously
12. Angry Young Man
13. Nowhere Road
14. Fearless Heart

Side D
15. I Love You Too Much
16. San Antonio Girl
17. The Devil's Right Hand
18. Down The Road
19. No. 29

Tour dates are:
Oct. 4 - Telluride, CO - Sheridan Opera House #
Oct. 6 - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater #
Oct. 8 - Kansas City, MO - Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts %
Oct. 9 - Lincoln, NE - Rococo Theater %
Oct. 11 - St. Louis, MO - Sheldon Concert Hall %
Oct. 12 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater -
Oct. 13 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theater -
Oct. 14 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall -
Oct. 16 - Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center -
Oct. 19 - Philadelphia, PA - Merriam Theater -
Oct. 21 - Washington, DC - Lisner Auditorium -
Nov. 2 - Calgary, AB - Grey Eagle Resort & Casino ^
Nov. 3 - Regina, SK - Casino Regina-Show Lounge ^
Nov. 4 - Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings Theatre ^
Nov. 5 - Minneapolis, MN - Pantages Theatre ^
Nov. 7 - Cleveland, OH - Music Box ^
Nov. 8 - Ottawa, ON - Bronson Center Theatre ^
Nov. 10-11 - St. Johns, NL - Holy Heart Theatre ^
Nov. 13-14 - Halifax, NS - Casino Nova Scotia ^
Nov. 16 - Kingston, ON - The Ale House ^
Nov. 17 - London, ON - London Music Hall ^
Nov. 18 - Niagara Falls, ON - Scotia Bank Convention Center ^
Dec. 2 - Annapolis, MD - Maryland Hall For The Creative Arts ^
Dec. 5 - New York, NY - Town Hall - John Henry's Friends Benefit w/ Graham Nash, Shawn Colvin, Matt Savage and Steve Earle & The Dukes performing Guitar Town

^ performing Guitar Town
# Steve Earle Solo Acoustic
% Lampedusa: Concerts For Refugees w/ Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin, Milk Carton Kids
- Lampedusa: Concerts For Refugees w/ Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin, Milk Carton Kids and special guest Robert Plant

More news for Steve Earle

CD reviews for Steve Earle

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 »»»

Terraplane

In the Instagram era where people use apps to turn digital snapshots into sepia-toned portraits, Steve Earle's 16th studio release finds its place with an old-school sound. It's a Polaroid of rural country, blues and bluegrass frozen in time. But instead of outdated, it plays on the nostalgia of its modern audience. Named for the 1930s Hudson muscle car model, "Terraplane," the cover is a cacophony of vintage graphics hinting to the fun times that lie beneath. »»»

Editorial: Walking the talk – When names like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon and the Hag are invoked, you're talking hard core country. These are the touchstones of country , the guys who made country music what it was and still is (or maybe can be). When these folks would sing about being down-and-out and the rough-and-tumble, they knew of what they were singing about. Fast forward a few years to the country singers of today. »»»

Concert Review: The Lil Smokies provide the perfect antidote – On a night when the world to be falling further apart thanks to coronavirus (this would be the night the NBA postponed the season), there stood The Lil Smokies to at least in some small measure save the day. The quintet is part of a generation of musicians with bluegrass as the basis, but not totally the sum of the music either.... »»»

Concert Review: White makes the case for himself, no matter how dark the music – John Paul White opined with a glint in his eyes that his songs were not of the uplifting variety. In fact, they were downright dark. How else to explain "The Long Way" with the line "long way home back to you." Or "James," a song inspired by his grandfather who suffered from dementia. But lest you think that the Alabama... »»»

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