Steve Earle - The Low Highway

Like Neil Young, it seems that Steve Earle can't sit still and rest on his laurels. When not touring, acting or writing books, he is writing the kind of fine songs that appear on this album. Billed as Steve Earle & The Dukes (& Duchesses), the album covers a range of musical styles and influences.

In the opening title track, to a gentle acoustic beat with accompanying country slide guitar, Earle reflects on the disagreeable things he sees in his country while on his travels. The line, 'I saw empty houses on a dead end street' is soon followed by 'The ghosts of America watching me, through the broken windows of the factories'. He clearly is not happy with the way his country is headed.

'Calico County' is musically more upbeat and would not be out of place on 'Exile On Main Street'. Lyrically however, Earle voices the hopelessness of a drug addled bum driven to crime because that's the only way out of the place of the title. The theme of despondency continues into the third track, 'Burnin' it Down' in which the hapless protagonist is thinking about burning his local Walmart down.

'That All You Got' is a duet with his wife Allison Moorer, lent a zydeco flavour by the addition of bouncy accordion. Then the swinging 'Love's Gonna Blow My Way' evolves into something that could have been played by The Quintette du Hot Club de France as violinist Eleanor Whitmore (of The Mastersons) provides some very Grappelli-like licks. On 'After Mardi Gras', Earle looks at himself and doesn't like what he sees. He intends to change but only when the fun of mardi gras is over. Incidentally, these two songs were written in collaboration with Earle's 'Treme' co-star, Lucia Micarelli.

The variety of songs on the album continues with 'Pocket Full Of Rain', a piano driven blues in which Earle looks at the mistakes he's made but acknowledges that he has emerged if not unscathed, at least a little wiser for the experiences. The very short 'Warren Hellman's Banjo' name checks a number of banjo standards such as 'Shady Grove', 'Boil Them Cabbage Down' and 'Soldier's Joy'.

Overall this is about as diverse an album as Earle has ever produced and in my view it ranks up there with his very best work. Great songwriting and performances from Earle and his male (and female) backing musicians. What more could you ask for?

Hopefully I'll be able to catch him live when he visits the UK in May.