CMT Blog: Steve Earle

The last time I saw Kenny Chesney at a Farm Aid concert was a couple days after his divorce from Renee Zellweger. And he was not in a good mood. But it sounds like this year’s concert in New England on Saturday night (Sept. 20) was much better. He even traded in his cowboys boots for flip-flops and did an acoustic set for the crowd. And Farm Aid founder Willie Nelson backed him on “The Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning.” Nelson did his own set, as did near-country guys Neil Young, Steve Earle, Arlo Guthrie and John Mellencamp. Wish I’d been there.

When Levon Helm’s friends showed up Wednesday night (Sept. 17) in downtown Nashville for his concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, his admirers onstage included Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, Delbert McClinton, Billy Bob Thornton, Buddy Miller and Sam Bush. Oh, and two people from the audience — Steve Earle and Allison Moorer — also climbed onstage to help close the show. It was the kickoff for the Americana Music Festival and Conference that’s taking place here this week.

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Justin Townes Earle, the son of Grammy winner Steve Earle, has been nominated as the Americana Music Association’s new emerging artist of the year, and the awards will be handed out on Thursday. Yet, this video for “The Good Life” shows that the song title is relative. Many would define it as having a warm house and a loving family to go home to, but here Earle sings about living “The Good Life” after hitting rock bottom so hard he doesn’t even seem to realize he’s there. It’s got a very traditional feel from the first note. The sparse instrumentation is held together by a slow, boogie woogie/stride type of piano rhythm (which is sweet, I hope piano gets cool again).

She had me from “Baby Girl.” And ever since then, I’ve been hooked on Jennifer Nettles’ vocals. So when Sugarland crafts a tune where her pipes are accompanied only by some sparse guitar, it’s even better for me. Like they did on the smash hit “Stay.” And now, like they’ve done on “The Very Last Country Song,” another great song from their new Love on the Inside album which you were supposed to buy two days ago.

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Every artist was inspired by someone. Many claim their lives were forever changed the first time they heard Waylon, Willie or Merle. But rarely does self-proclaimed troubadour Steve Earle get any love from country’s mainstream.

That will change on Tuesday (July 22), when the world hears track number 11 on Sugarland’s new album, Love on the Inside. Read more…

With the new MySpace Karaoke site, you can record or listen to amateur versions of the country hits you love. Like a pitch-challenged interpretation of a Martina McBride hit.

Spend two minutes under the stage at Nashville’s Sommet Center with Bon Jovi, courtesy of The Tennessean newspaper.

Glen Campbell’s staging a California comeback. He’s getting ready to debut brand new songs at this weekend’s Stagecoach Festival.

Check out what everything the bloggers at The 9513 have done to celebrate Willie Nelson’s 75th. You could even win braids.

Steve Earle’s son, Justin Townes Earle, recalls the do-or-die night in the ER when he was forced to face his drug addiction.

There was no gunpowder, no lead and apparently no proof. But a fan is still claiming Miranda Lambert assaulted her physically and verbally at a Texas nightclub.

Mrs. Keith Urban is finally starting to fill out all her designer maternity dresses. And her son (with Tom Cruise) Connor has some good news, too. He snagged a minor role in the upcoming movie, Seven Pounds.

Got an hour? Check out the three pages full of Rolling Stone’s finest words devoted to uber-hot teen Taylor Swift.

When Big & Rich’s Big Kenny went to Sudan last fall, his life was changed forever. And he’s telling the story during the Nashville Film Festival with his documentary, Bearing Light: A Journey to Sudan.

Does he or doesn’t he? The Tennessean tries to get Steve Earle to open up about his love/hate relationship with Nashville.

Yes, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora’s blood-alcohol was above the legal limit during a recent arrest. But no, he won’t be charged with DUI.

Here’s a very rare opportunity to own a piece of country music history: a handwritten three-page letter from Patsy Cline to her fan club president back in 1956. It’ll be worth every penny it goes for.

Like Waylon Jennings and Steve Earle before him, Dierks Bentley will be the one and only country act to grace the stages of Chicago’s alt-rock festival Lollapalooza.

John Michael Montgomery’s “Mad Cowboy Disease,” the drunken-cowboy-meets-barroom-beauty tale, is now streaming on his MySpace page.

Taylor Swift is positively bubbly about making music with Colbie Caillat. She says Colbie’s cool and the song is cool, so everything’s very cool.

While Def Leppard’s guitarist thinks that most collaborations are crap, he does think their recent effort with Tim McGraw turned out quite well.

Hey, you! Martina McBride! Why don’t you play us something by Merle Haggard?

In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Shooter Jennings says he wishes he was born sooner.

Any travel reporter who goes to Austin, Texas, and gives a shout-out to Stubb’s BBQ and The Broken Spoke is OK with us.

Justin Townes Earle, the songwriting son of Steve Earle, talks about the old-time feel of his newly released debut album.

The Charlotte Observer remembers the harmonious legacy of the famous brother duo, The Blue Sky Boys.

 

“I don’t want to be like fish,” my mom said. “After a while they get to stinkin’.”

My mother recently came down visit me from Illinois. She came to celebrate our birthdays together and to catch up on some much-needed girl time. She was worried that her stay of five nights would be too long and that she may wear out her welcome or interrupt my schedule. And for some, having their mother for this period of time would start to stink. Not for me.

We went out for dinner, we went shopping, you know, did most normal mother and daughter activities. But I have to say, my favorite memories of her trip will be our morning conversations over vanilla biscotti coffee as we sat in my little apartment with my kitty, Hank. Though in the middle of a city, I felt like I was back home again. When she left Monday morning and dropped me off at work, we both sadly said our goodbyes. I guess you could simply say the days weren’t long enough.

That morning she left, I began my work week by putting together Steve Earle and wife Allison Moorer’s Unplugged at Studio 330 page on CMT.com. I read about how the two are nominated for a 2008 Grammy for their country collaboration of song, “Days Aren’t Long Enough.” Before watching the performance, I thought to myself, “What a beautiful title.” I hadn’t heard the song before, but when I watched the video, I immediately thought it was an award winner as well as a song I needed to hear at that moment in time. “Days Aren’t Long Enough” was just how I was feeling.

Every time I watch this video, I feel like I’m a fly on the wall watching the couple at their home having some sort of personal and intimate conversation. You can’t fake this kind of raw emotion, and it’s obvious from the first note as they gaze into one another’s eyes. In Earle’s interview following the performance, he talks about how this duet differs with others he’s done in the past because, as he says, “It required no acting whatsoever.”

Though Earle and Moorer are singing of their relationship for one another as man and wife, this song can be perceived on several different levels. That morning I listened and watched this video, it was like a little gift that helped me put how I was feeling into words as well as perspective.

Yes, we all have those special people in our lives we look forward to seeing and spending time with. Whether a mother or father, brother or sister, friend or loved one, time is never quite long enough — no matter how much time we’re given. Like the song says, “Another year has come and gone/Another circle ‘round the sun” — and, I’m sure, more stinky situations for all of us to come. But with those special few (like my mother), “Days are never long enough.”