A protégé of legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, multi Grammy award-winning musician, actor, author, playwright and activist, Steve Earle was an ambitious Texas songwriter struggling to get his break when now legendary MCA A&R head Tony Brown signed the recalcitrant rocker.
Guitar Town, Earle’s debut album, was shocking in its blue collar ethos, the resonant twang of the guitars and that raw-throated wail of a 31-year-old who refused to stand down. If mainstream country music was on the verge of what Earle would call “the Great Credibility Scare of the ‘80s,” Guitar Town was the powder keg that would blow the whole bloated, stagnant genre up.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Earle’s iconic
Guitar Town, MCA Nashville/UMe will release a deluxe edition of the album on CD and digital on
October 14. The two-disc set will feature the classic 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. Pre-order and stream
Guitar Town: https://ume.lnk.to/GuitarTown30
The concert will also be available on its own as a double LP on 180-gram vinyl exclusively at
UDiscover: http://flyt.it/SteveEarle A remastered vinyl edition of
Guitar Town, cut for vinyl by Ron McMaster at Capitol Mastering
and also remastered by Vosgien, was released in May along with Earle’s
other MCA studio releases: Exit 0, Copperhead Road and
The Hard Way.
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 Dukes tore through the album’s 10
cuts to a rapturous crowd 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, October 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.
Guitar Town hit No. 1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart and garnered
two Grammy nominations for Earle – Best Male Country Vocalist and
Best Country Song for the album’s title track, which reached No. 7 on
Billboard's
Country Singles chart. Earle, who several months before had been
slogging away trying to get his break, received comparisons to such
celebrated songwriters as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty and
Tom Petty as the album became one of the most acclaimed
of the ‘80s.
It topped Rolling Stone’s Critic’s Poll for Country
Album Of The Year and later was included in both the magazine’s 100
Best Albums Of The Eighties and their esteemed 500 Greatest Albums Of
All Time lists. The record,
which also spawned the No. 8 Country Single, “Goodbye’s All We Got
Left” as well as “Hillbilly Highway” and “Someday” is certified platinum
in Canada and gold in the U.S.
Recorded at the Park West in Chicago in 1986 while on tour in support of
Guitar Town, the live album features Earle and his band playing 19 songs - the entirety of Guitar Town, several tracks from the then-unreleased sophomore album,
Exit 0, and a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “State Trooper.”
STEVE EARLE - GUITAR TOWN 30TH ANNIVERSARY
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
STEVE EARLE ON TOUR
October 6 – Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater #
October 8 – Kansas City, MO @ Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts %
October 9 – Lincoln, NE @ Rococo Theater %
October 11 – St. Louis, MO @ Sheldon Concert Hall %
October 12 – Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater @
October 13 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater @
October 14 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall @
October 16 – Boston, MA @ Berklee Performance Center @
October 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Merriam Theater @
October 21 – Washington, DC @ Lisner Auditorium @
November 2 – Calgary, AB @ Grey Eagle Resort & Casino ^
November 3 – Regina, SK @ Casino Regina-Show Lounge ^
November 4 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre ^
November 5 – Minneapolis, MN @ Pantages Theatre ^
November 7 – Cleveland, OH @ Music Box ^
November 8 – Ottawa, ON @ Bronson Center Theatre ^
November 10 – St. Johns, NL @ Holy Heart Theatre ^
November 11 – St. Johns, NL @ Holy Heart Theatre ^
November 13 – Halifax, NS @ Casino Nova Scotia ^
November 14 – Halifax, NS @ Casino Nova Scotia ^
November 16 – Kingston, ON @ The Ale House ^
November 17 – London, ON @ London Music Hall ^
November 18 – Niagara Falls, ON @ Scotia Bank Convention Center ^
December 2 – Annapolis, MD @ Maryland Hall For The Creative Arts ^
December
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
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