Steve Earle is touring with a new acoustic album titled “Alone Again Live,” going back to his roots as a troubadour with a guitar, a harmonica, a backpack full of songs, and some truths to tell. The 25 songs he sung, along with the engaging stories and anecdotes he told on a warm summer night in North Carolina, transported the crowd on a journey through the life and times of an American songwriter following in the tradition of the great folksingers. Earle has released twenty-two studio albums during his career and he played timeless songs from a wide range of them including ‘Tennessee Blues,’ ‘The Devil’s Right Hand’ and ‘My Old Friend the Blues.’ He chose to start his set with the title song from his 1986 debut, “Guitar Town,” recognizing his passion for music and the road…” I heard someone callin’ my name one day, And I followed that voice down the lost highway”.
Earle’s highway of life was impeded by more than its share of potholes to navigate, and he shines a harsh light on the allure of crack cocaine he fought for years on ‘CCKMP’ – “Girl, don’t come knockin’ on my door, Even that won’t work no more”. That reliance on the white tornado probably cost him a few of his – count ‘em – seven marriages, although he’s pretty much given up on that institution after his last with singer Allison Moorer ended twelve years ago. His well-known affinity for women comes forth when he introduces “the chick song portion of the program,” talking about the pain-in-the-ass youngster who learned a lot of Donovan songs and brought his guitar to every party on a bright rendition of ‘Sparkle and Shine.’ He honestly admits that even though all the vain girls thought the song was about them, “it was actually about me.”
What isn’t about Earle are the four albums he recorded as tributes to his three mentors and a son, Justin Townes Earle, the the album he never thought he’d need to make. “Townes” came out in 2009 and the other three were released in the span of four years, starting with “Guy” in 2019, “JT” in 2020 and “Jerry Jeff” in 2022. He spoke mercilessly about the struggle with addiction that cost him his first-born son before performing Justin’s haunting song about suicide, ‘Harlem River Blues.’ His son died in 2020 from an overdose of cocaine laced with deadly fentanyl, which still pours unchecked across America’s southern border. “Something, something uptown, to the Harlem River to drown.”
Whether it’s a tale of loss or redemption, Earle is an adept storyteller, and it’s worth quoting from his introduction to the most famous song from his Jerry Jeff Walker album. “Jerry Jeff’s travels brought him to Houston, Texas,” he begins, “where he became friends with Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. This song was written when he was crashing on Townes’ couch above a coffee shop, which is now a parking lot. He sometimes played the Good Woman coffee-house at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “Billboard Magazine” sent a young man named Jimmy Buffett around to interview him. When the interview was over, Buffett said he wrote some songs, so they got out their guitars and went back and forth nearly all night. When they ran out of gas, Buffett took Jerry Jeff home with him, and he always swore that was the last nail in the coffin of his first marriage.” Earle learned to play that song in high school but had to quit playing it when he met the man. Now with Walker gone, he’s pleased to be getting to play the song all over again. “Y’all know the words and can sing it with me,” he offered. “I knew a man Bojangles and he danced for you in worn out shoes ….”
‘Christmas in Washington’ was the powerful encore and a call to vote in the upcoming November election. First appearing on his “El Corazon” album, Earle wanted the song to start a conversation and show that if we listen to one another and have that conversation, we might have more in common than the issues that divide us. “You know, you don’t have to tell your wife how you voted, and she doesn’t have tell her husband either. But let’s do this with a little kindness. It doesn’t have to be so fucking mean.” He invokes the names of activists like Woody Guthrie, Emma Goldman, and Martin Luther King, Jr. as would any hardcore progressive. But he closed the show on a softer note with the classic ‘Hardcore Troubadour,’ a compelling tale of a man who has taken his place in the illustrious lineage that goes back to Guthrie and Joe Hill, and why on the cusp of age 70 he still ain’t ever satisfied.
The opening act appeared on stage as if transported there by a magic wand. No introduction to announce Zandi Holup, whose presence was noticed after the first few strums on her guitar. She was born and raised in Pennsylvania, but a move to Nashville has landed her a label deal. She has a distinctive voice that sounds like she’s spent her life in Nashville. Her singing and songs (one a co-write with Steve Earle) are quite good, though, and many from the crowd checked their conversations and pricked up their ears to listen.
With only a TikTok video to promote the single ‘Gas Staton,’ this song achieved over a half-million views on Spotify. Her songs are described as “delicate and earthy,” which is how you might describe Holup, a pretty blonde who feels more comfortable barefooted on stage. Highlights were ‘Mary Jane’ (not the weed whose earthy aroma scented the night air) but the high school romance of an odd couple: “He was a quiet boy in 7th grade, she had a little red streak in her twisted braids.” Further into the song, she watched with dismay as the boyfriend sunk fifteen years into a heroin habit. The crowd was treated to the biting tale of a vulnerable girl whose mama may have chided her with the old beauty-is-as-beauty-does bromide. “My history’s a part of me. I’ve done some fucked-up things, I could be your angel if you can love these dirty wings.”
Holup saved her best for the end of the seven-song set with ‘Go Find Less,’ where a canny, defiant girl admonishes a boyfriend: “If I’m too much then go find less.” She wrapped up her set with the easy innocence of ‘Wildflower,’ describing the shy, friendless girl who learns to accept herself as a means of finding strength. This glimpse into her emotional growth and depth of her music should bode well for a new album scheduled for release in 2025.
