Summary
"Steve jerked blearily back to consciousness to find himself manacled in the back of a police car." Quotes like this are a dime a dozen throughout Lauren St. John's never-dull biography of the mercurial country singer Steve Earle, a born rebel whose edge-of-the-precipice lifestyle would terrify pantywaists like Keith Richards and Sid Vicious. Beset with the commercial setback of playing alternative country music in the 1980s-before the label existed-Earle nevertheless recorded respectably selling albums like GUITAR TOWN and COPPERHEAD ROAD, which, along with serial problems with the law, cemented his reputation as a country music outlaw genius. While Earle's recreational pursuits are the stuff of rock legend (St. John's research uncovers marital bust-ups, tequila and marijuana-fueled Mexican sojourns, and barroom brawls, as well as periods of extraordinary musical inspiration), his creative impulse illuminates the book's narrative, defying the clichéd poverty-riches-obscurity trajectory of many less-talented musicians' careers.
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Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Harpercollins
Published date: 2003
Edition: 1th edition
Size: 6.25 x 9.25 inches
Weight: 1.7 pounds
Pages: 352
Publisher's Notes
Steve Earle is the musicians' idol - 'my hero' to Emmylou Harris - who has said of his life that 'If I'd known I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself.' He was taking heroin at thirteen, and by the age of forty was mired in a seemingly permanent 'vacation in the ghetto' as he described his life then. In and out of jail for a variety of offences, Earle seemed determined to make good on his boast that when the end of the world came (and it seemed pretty close at times) only he, Keith Richards and the cockroaches would be left standing. Not yet fifty, he has been married six times, twice to the same woman, and amazingly forgiven by almost all of the ex-wives. In moments of consciousness he has, through sheer musical ability, shared a stage with, among others, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, the Pogues and Bob Dylan. He's a legend, and one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation. He has poured a lot of living into those songs. Nashville just wouldn't be the same without him.
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