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==Personal life==
==Personal life==
Earle married his first wife in Nashville at the age of 18.<ref name="All Music"/> After moving to Texas and then back to Nashville, Earle married his second wife but the marriage was short lived. Earle married his third wife, who gave birth to his son, [[Justin Townes Earle]].<ref name="All Music"/> In 1994, Earle was sent to prison for "drug and weapon possession" <ref name ="New York Times"> DeCurtis, Anthony (May 7, 2012) [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/arts/music/10decurtis.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all/ Freeing A Mentor From His Mythology] New York Times, retrieved August 3, 2012</ref> but was paroled a year later after completing a rehabilitation program.<ref name="CMT"/>
Earle married his first wife in Nashville at the age of 18.<ref name="All Music"/> After moving to Texas and then back to Nashville, Earle married his second wife but the marriage was short lived. Earle married his third wife, who gave birth to his son, [[Justin Townes Earle]].<ref name="All Music"/> In 1994, Earle was sent to prison for "drug and weapon possession" <ref name ="New York Times"> DeCurtis, Anthony (May 7, 2012) [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/arts/music/10decurtis.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all/ Freeing A Mentor From His Mythology] New York Times, retrieved August 3, 2012</ref> but was paroled after completing a rehabilitation program.<ref name="CMT"/>


As a recovering heroin addict, Earle has used his experience in his work.<ref>http://music.yahoo.com/steve-earle/biography/ Yahoo Biography</ref>
As a recovering heroin addict, Earle has used his experience in his work.<ref>http://music.yahoo.com/steve-earle/biography/ Yahoo Biography</ref>

Revision as of 17:10, 5 August 2012

For the football player, see Steve Earle (footballer).

For the drummer Steve Earle, see Afghan Whigs

Steve Earle
Earle performing in 2007 at the Midlands Music Festival in Westmeath, Ireland
Earle performing in 2007 at the Midlands Music Festival in Westmeath, Ireland
Background information
Birth nameStephen Fain Earle
Born (1955-01-17) January 17, 1955 (age 69)
Hampton, Virginia United States
OriginSan Antonio, Texas, United States
Occupation(s)Musician, Singer-songwriter, Author, Playwright
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, banjo, bouzouki, bass
LabelsUni. MCA Nashville, New West, E² Records, Warner Bros.
WebsiteSteveEarle.com

Steve Earle (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈɜːrl/; born Stephen Fain Earle on January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author and actor.

Early life

Earle was born Stephen Fain Earle in Fort Monroe, Virginia and grew up near San Antonio, Texas.[1][2] His father, Jack Earle, was in the military and his mother took part in anti-death penalty vigils.[citation needed] Although he was born in Virginia where his father was stationed, the family returned to Texas before Earle's second birthday. Moving often during his childhood, Earle grew up primarily in Schertz, Texas.[2][3][4]

Earle began learning the guitar at the age of 11 and won a talent contest at his school at age 13.[2] Earle was "rebellious" as a youngster and dropped out of school at the age of 16. He traveled with his 19 year old uncle around the state of Texas[2] and at the age of 18 settled in Houston, where he married and worked odd jobs. While in Houston he met singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who became his hero and role model.[1][2]

Career

1970 to 1999

A year later, Earle moved to Nashville, Tennessee and began working blue-collar jobs in the day and playing music at night.[2] During this time he wrote songs and played bass guitar in Guy Clark's band. Earle also played on Clark's 1975 album Old No. 1.[1] Earle appeared in the 1975 film Heartworn Highways, a documentary on the Nashville music scene which included Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt and Rodney Crowell. [citation needed] Earle lived in Nashville for several years and obtained a job as a staff songwriter for a publishing company called Sunbury Dunbar.[1][2] Later Earle grew tired of Nashville and returned to Texas and created a band called The Dukes.[1] In the 1980s Earle returned to Nashville once again, Earle worked as a songwriter for the publishers Roy Dea and Pat Clark and a song Earle co-wrote, called "When You Fall in Love", was recorded by Johnny Lee and in 1982 was number 14 on the country charts.[2] Carl Perkins recorded Earle's song "Mustang Wine", and two of his songs were recorded by Zella Lehr. Later Dea and Clark created an independent record label called LSI and invited Earle to began recording his own material.[1]

Earle released an EP called, Pink & Black, in 1982 featuring the Dukes. John Lomax, sent the EP to Epic Records and they signed Earle to a recording contract in 1983 and Lomax became his manager.[1] After losing his publishing contract with Dea and Carter, Earle met Tony Brown, a producer and was added to the roster at MCA Records. At that point Earle severed his connections with Epic Records and Lomax, his manager.[1] He released his first full length album, Guitar Town, on MCA Records in 1986. The album became a hit and the title track became a Top Ten single in 1986 and his song "Goodbye's All We've Got Left" reached the Top Ten in 1987. He released a compilation of earlier recordings entitled, Early Tracks, in 1987. That same year, he released his second album with the Dukes, called Exit 0, which received critical acclaim for its blend of country and rock.[1]

His 1990 album called The Hard Way had a harder rock sound and was followed by the live album Shut Up and Die Like An Aviator.[2] MCA Records let Earle's contract expire due to his "increasing use of drugs" and Earle did not record any music for the next four years.[2] In 1994, two staff members at Warner/Chappell publishing company, and Earle's former manager, John Dotson, created an in house CD of Earle's songs entitled Uncut Gems and showcased it to recording artists in Nashville. As a result, Earle's songs were recorded by Travis Tritt, Stacy Dean Campbell and Robert Earl Keen.[2] Later, Earle released Train a Comin' on Winter Harvest Records and it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1996. It was characterized as a return to the "folksy acoustic" sound of his early career.[2] Earle formed his own record label called E-Squared Records and released the album, I Feel Alright, in 1996 which combined the musical sounds of country, rock and rockabilly.[2]

Earle exchanged letters with a death row prisoner who was the subject of of his song, "Over Yonder", and attended the prisoner's execution in 1998.[5] Earle made a foray into bluegrass influenced music in 1999 when he released the album, The Mountain with the Del McCoury Band. In 2000, Earle recorded his album Transcendental Blues.[2]

2000 to present

Earle has written and performed poetry and fiction and presented excerpts of his writings at the 2000 New Yorker Festival.[2] He wrote a collection of short stories called Doghouse Roses, that were published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in June 2001. Earle's first novel, entitled I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive after a Hank Williams song, was published the spring of 2011.[6] Earle wrote and produced a play about the death penalty entitled Karla. The play was produced off-Broadway and focuses on the death of Karla Faye Tucker, who was the first woman excuted by the state of Texas since the death penalty was reinstated. [citation needed]

Earle performing in front of the United States Supreme Court on July 1st 2003

In the early 2000s Earle's album, Jerusalem expressed his "leftist views" such as his anti-war and anti-death penalty stances.[1][7] The album's song John Walker's Blues, about the captured American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, stirred up controversy.[2][8] Earle responded by appearing on a variety of news and editorial programs and defending the song and expressing his views on patriotism and terrorism.[2] Earle's tour featuring the Jerusalem album was documented on film in 2003 and he released a live album from the tour called, Just an American Boy.[1] In 2004, Earle released the album, The Revolution Starts Now, a collection of songs influenced by the Iraq war and the policies of the George W. Bush administration and won a Gramy for best contemporary folk album.[1][7] The title song was used by General Motors in a TV advertisement for pick-up trucks.[9] The album was released during the U.S. presidential campaign to encourage Earle's fans to vote for John Kerry. [citation needed] The song "The Revolution Starts Now" was used in the promotion of Michael Moore's anti-war documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 and appears on the album Songs and Artists That Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11. [citation needed]

In 2006, Earle contributed a cover of Randy Newman's song "Rednecks" to the tribute album Sail Away: The Songs of Randy Newman.[10] Earle hosted a radio show on Air America from August 2004 until June 2007.[11] Later he began hosting a show on called Hardcore Troubadour on the Outlaw Country channel.[12] Earle is also the subject of two biographies, Steve Earle: Fearless Heart, Outlaw Poet, by David McGee and Hardcore Troubadour: The Life and Near Death of Steve Earle by Lauren St. John.

Steve Earle onstage with Allison Moorer at the Bumbershoot event in 2007

In September 2007, Earle released his twelfth studio album, Washington Square Serenade,[13] on New West Records. Earle recorded the album after relocating to New York City, and it was his first use of digital audio recording, as opposed to traditional analog recording techniques.[14] The disc features Earle's wife Allison Moorer on "Days Aren't Long Enough" and "Down Here Below." The album includes Earle's version of Tom Waits' song "Way Down in the Hole" which was the theme song for the fifth season of The Wire in which Earle appeared as the character Walon. In 2008, Earle produced Joan Baez's album Day After Tomorrow.[15] (Prior to their collaboration on Day After Tomorrow, Baez had covered two Earle songs, "Christmas in Washington" and "Jerusalem," on previous albums.) In the winter, he toured Europe and North America in support of Washington Square Serenade, performing both solo and with a disc jockey.[14] On May 12, 2009, Earle released a tribute album, Townes, on New West Records. The album contained 15 songs written by Townes Van Zandt. Guest artists appearing on the album included Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Earle's wife Allison Moorer, and his son Justin Townes Earle.[16] The album earned Earle a 3rd Grammy award, this time for best contemporary folk album.[7] Earle appeared in the 2008 political documentary Slacker Uprising.[citation needed]

In 2010 Earle was awarded the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's Shining Star of Abolition award.[17]

Earle released his first novel and fourteenth studio album, both entitled I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive after a Hank Williams song, in the spring of 2011.[7] The album was released on April 26, 2011 and was produced by T-Bone Burnett and deals with questions of mortality and has a "more country" sound than his earlier work.[18] During the second half of his 2011 tour with The Dukes and Duchesses featuring Allison Moorer, the drum kit was adorned with the slogan "we are the 99%" a clear reference to the occupy movement which began in September that year. [citation needed]

Since his emergence as a performer, his songs have been recorded by Joan Baez, The Pretenders, The Proclaimers, Eddi Reader, The Highwaymen, Waylon Jennings, Levon Helm, Emmylou Harris, Percy Sledge and Johnny Cash.[19] Travis Tritt had a No. 7 country hit in 1995 with Earle's "Sometimes She Forgets."

Earle has recorded several anti-death penalty songs including "Billy Austin," "Over Yonder (Jonathan's Song)" and "Ellis Unit One" for the 1995 film Dead Man Walking.[citation needed]

Acting

Earle has had a mix of appearances in television and movies ranging from cameos to full roles.[20] His music is often used in the sound tracks for these works. Earle portrayed Walon, a recovering drug addict in several episodes of the HBO television series The Wire.[21] Earle's song "I Feel Alright" was played at the closing of season two. Earle's version of the Tom Waits song, "Way Down in the Hole" was heard during the 5th season's opening show.[citation needed] Earle played a drug dealer in Tim Blake Nelson's 2009 movie Leaves of Grass and a musician in the HBO series Treme. [citation needed] Earle's song "This City" can be heard over the closing credits of the first season finale. [citation needed] He was also one of several musicians who sang a mock charity appeal in the final episode of Season 3 of 30 Rock.[citation needed]

Personal life

Earle married his first wife in Nashville at the age of 18.[1] After moving to Texas and then back to Nashville, Earle married his second wife but the marriage was short lived. Earle married his third wife, who gave birth to his son, Justin Townes Earle.[1] In 1994, Earle was sent to prison for "drug and weapon possession" [22] but was paroled after completing a rehabilitation program.[2]

As a recovering heroin addict, Earle has used his experience in his work.[23]

Earle has collaborated with his sister, Stacey Earle, who is also a musician and songwriter. Earle has been married seven times, including twice to the same woman.[24] His wives were Sandra "Sandy" Henderson, Cynthia Dunn, Carol-Ann Hunter (with whom he had his first child, Justin), Lou-Anne Gill (with whom he had a second son, Ian and a stepdaughter, Amy), Maria Teresa Ensenat, Lou-Anne Gill a second time, and finally, in 2005, singer-songwriter Allison Moorer. His first son, Justin Townes Earle, is also a musician. Earle and Moorer had their first child together, John Henry Earle, on April 5, 2010.[25]

Earle is an opponent of capital punishment[2] and has been a regular participant in the "Concerts for a Landmine Free World," benefiting the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.[citation needed]

Discography

Main article: Steve Earle discography

Songs in film and TV

Steve Earle's songs have appeared in many major motion pictures and television as writer and performer.

As performer and writer

As writer

Nominations and Awards

  • Steve Earle has received a total of fourteen nominations for Grammy Awards and won three.
2012 Nominated "Best Folk Album" for I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive.
2010 Won "Best Contemporary Folk Album" for Townes.
2008 Won "Best Contemporary Folk Album" for Washington Square Serenade.
2005 Won "Best Contemporary Folk Album" for The Revolution Starts...Now.
2005 Nominated “Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance” for The Revolution Starts...Now.
2003 Nominated "Best Contemporary Folk Album" for Jerusalem.
2001 Nominated "Best Contemporary Folk Album" for Transcendental Blues.
2000 Nominated "Best Bluegrass Album" for The Mountain with the Del McCoury Band.
1999 Nominated "Best Contemporary Folk Album" for El Corazón.
1996 Nominated "Best Contemporary Folk Album" for Train A Comin'. (Lost in 1996 to Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, which Earle co-produced.)
1988 Nominated "Best Country Male Vocalist" for Exit 0.
1988 Nominated "Best Country Song" for “Nowhere Road”.
1987 Nominated "Best Country Male Vocalist" for Guitar Town.
1987 Nominated "Best Country Song" for “Guitar Town”.
  • He was named Country Artist of the Year for 1986 by Rolling Stone magazine.
  • In 2004, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for songwriting by the UK's BBC Radio 2.
  • In July 2010, Earle was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Music and Lyrics category, for the song "This City," which was written for the television series Tremé.
  • On May 13, 2011, Earle was granted an honorary degree from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law.

Collaborations

Sources

  • McGee, David. Steve Earle: Fearless Heart, Outlaw Poet, Backbeat, 2005.
  • Schone, Mark. (1998). "Steve Earle." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 160–1.
  • St John, Lauren. Hardcore Troubadour: The Life and Near Death of Steve Earle, Fourth Estate, 2002 ISBN 1-84115-611-6

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Erlewine, Stephen Thomas Steve Earle Bio All Music, retrieved July 27, 2012
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Steve Earle Bio CMT website, retrieved July 28, 2012
  3. ^ Interview with Steve Earle, July 8, 92.1 KNBT's Friday Afternoon Club, Live from Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, TX
  4. ^ Interview / Steve Earle Part II | meg. Meg.ie. Retrieved on 2012-05-10.
  5. ^ Earle, Steve. "A Death in Texas," Tikkun, September 2000. http://www.steveearle.net/biblio/tikkun-0900.php
  6. ^ Press Release, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=694084&searchString=steve%20earle
  7. ^ a b c d unknown author (2012) Steve Earle Biography, retrieved August 2, 2012
  8. ^ McGee, David. Steve Earle, Fearless Heart, Outlaw Poet. Backbeat: San Francisco, 2005. P. 207.
  9. ^ "GM Commercial". cheezeball.net. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
  10. ^ Song of the Day: Steve Earle, “Rednecks” (Randy Newman cover) » Cover Me. Covermesongs.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-10.
  11. ^ SteveEarle.net/radio, retrieved 2008-10-03
  12. ^ "Country Music Renegade Steve Earle to Launch a Weekly Show Exclusively on Sirius Satellite Radio" (Press release). Air America Radio. 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  13. ^ Cole, Katherine (15 December 2007). "Steve Earle Gives Nod to New Hometown in 'Washington Square Serenade'". VOA News. Voice of America. Retrieved 2 January 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ a b Schneider, Jason (2007). "Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade". Exclaim! Magazine. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  15. ^ Kintner, Thomas (2008-09-09). "New on Disc: Jessica Simpson, Joan Baez". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
  16. ^ "Townes Album Coming Soon". steveearle.com. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  17. ^ Steve Earle Lays It Down, retrieved 2010-01-27
  18. ^ Billboard, January 24, 2011 http://www.billboard.com/news/steve-earle-explores-mortality-on-new-album-1005009442.story#/news/steve-earle-explores-mortality-on-new-album-1005009442.story
  19. ^ The Original Unofficial Steve Earle Site
  20. ^ IMDB Profile
  21. ^ List of Steve Earle Television Appearances
  22. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (May 7, 2012) Freeing A Mentor From His Mythology New York Times, retrieved August 3, 2012
  23. ^ http://music.yahoo.com/steve-earle/biography/ Yahoo Biography
  24. ^ St John, Lauren. Hardcore Troubadour: The Life and Near Death of Steve Earle, Fourth Estate, 2002.
  25. ^ The Boot, 4/7/2010
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Awards
Preceded by First Amendment Center/AMA "Spirit of Americana" Free Speech Award
2004 		Succeeded by

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