Steve Earle The Warner Bros. YearsShout! Factory A
Troubadour Steve Earle’s recording career got rolling with the country album Guitar Town in 1986 and achieved greatness with Copperhead Road in 1988. By late 1991, he was homeless and addicted to heroin.
Earle started making records again in 1994 and releasing them in 1995, and has been in recovery ever since. This boxed set features studio albums Train a Comin’ (1995), I Feel Alright (1996) and El Corazon (1997), along with To Hell and Back, a concert DVD filmed at Tennessee’s Cold Creek Correctional Facility in 1996; and a previously unreleased CD of 1995 Nashville concert Live at the Polk Theater. There’s also an introduction by Earle and liner notes by David Simon, creator of HBO’s Treme, in which Earle played a New Orleans street musician until his character got killed off.
The acoustic Train a Comin’ can be considered Earle’s comeback album, conceived while he was in treatment and heading toward sobriety. The country rocker I Feel Alright and the confident style-melding of El Corazon are among his finest works. The intensely energetic prison concert, 46 minutes long, features longtime collaborators the Dukes and includes Earle speaking about his 1994 imprisonment on drug possession charges. Live at the Polk Theater (with guests Emmylou Harris and Bill Monroe) was recorded when Earle was still getting his bluegrass thing together, but hadn’t completely formed the sound (which reached a high point in 1999 with the release of The Mountain by Earle and the Del McCoury Band). It’s an interesting performance but has nowhere near the power and definition of the other fine works in this collection.
Hot tracks: “Angel Is the Devil,” “Billy and Bonnie,” “Christmas in Washington,” “I Still Carry You Around.” - KAREN MARTIN
Blue Sky Riders Finally Home3Dream B
This trio, headlined by 1970s star Kenny Loggins, makes music that’s already been tagged as country. It is no such thing - not the old-fashioned country with the hardcore honky-tonk attitude or the newfangled country that stamps around like lumbering arena rock.
Instead, Blue Sky Riders is just plain old easy-listening rock, the kind that made Loggins a mint and affords him the opportunity to venture out with this group. More than a couple of the melodies are winners - “As Luck Would Have It” being the best of all. However, the lyrics are cliches or worse, and seem to disintegrate almost immediately after you have heard them. FinallyHome also demonstrates an indulgence. There are 15 songs and too many overstay their welcome; that is common today for projects that aren’t under the control of a major label. A strong hand was needed to cut and trim the fat. The good work that is here gets lost.
Hot track: “As Luck Would Have It.” - WERNER TRIESCHMANN
Eddie Spaghetti The Value of NothingBloodshot B-
Supersuckers front man Eddie Spaghetti rolls in with his fourth solo effort, and it’s pretty much what you would expect from the cowpunker. Barstool-philosopher lyrics, road-worn cynicism, humor and the faith of a rock ’n’ roll true believer hitting middle age.
“I’m Empty” is a pretty startling workout in self-loathing, and “People Are S*,” with its rolling accordion and a Texas Tornados feel, is pretty much self-explanatory. The misanthropy is curbed a bit by the charming ode to domesticity “You Get to BeMy Age.”
The Value of Nothing turns out to be a decent little album of songs that are more clever than profound.
Hot tracks: The goodtimes anthem “Waste of Time,” “The Value of Nothing.” - SEAN CLANCY
Aaron Tippin, Joe Diffie & SammyKershaw All in the Same Boat Big HitB+
This is a slight record that gets by on the low-watt good humor that used to be mandatory in Nashville and now has been replaced by over-earnest metal anthems disguised as country songs. This trio of country stars of yore reprise their Roots & Boots tour for this record.
Aaron Tippin didn’t need another version of his hit “Kiss This,” and Sammy Kershaw didn’t need to put out another “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful.” But you don’t mind it because both are part of a genteel piece. The real revelation here is Joe Diffie’scover of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold.” His voice cracks on the key lines, “I’m searchin’ for a heart of gold/And I’m getting’ old.” That alone practically makes this record worth the cost.
Hot tracks: “Misery Loves Country,” “Heart of Gold.” -WERNER TRIESCHMANN
Thomas Rhett “It Goes Like This”The Valory Music Co. D
The third single by country hopeful and Jason Aldean-tour opener Thomas Rhett shows just who wears the big boy pants in Nashville right now. And, no, it ain’t Rhett. The sexy ways of country man beef Luke Bryan are all over this blatant knockoff. It starts with a slinky, midtempo guitar lead-in and Rhett singing, “Hey girl, you make me want to write a song.” It’s one relatively long, unimpressive seduction from there. It apparently took three people to write this thing but somehow they forgot to add Nashville’s cash registers ringing in the background.
-WERNER TRIESCHMANN
Style, Pages 30 on 07/23/2013