Gypsy Songman - Steve Earle & the Dukes

Gypsy Songman - Steve Earle & the Dukes

2:37

Jerry Jeff, 2022

Written by Jerry Jeff Walker, 1987

Earle sings this statement of purpose with gusto, keeping it uptempo and brisk.  It's the proclamation of an itinerate musician, always moving on and getting by on tips.  "I got a stage on every corner, hall on every street / My hat is my coin box, this song is what you need."  It's a classic musician on the road song, up there with Willie's "On the Road Again" and "Devil in a Sleepin' Bag."  Earle and the Dukes meld fiddle and pedal steel to create a rollicking Cajun sound, with Earle's growl here smoothed out considerably.

Texas Eagle - Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band

Texas Eagle - Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band
3:28
The Mountain, 1999

Written by Steve Earle

A great addition to the mass of nostalgic train songs in Americana music, this tune has the narrator reminiscing about the titular Texas Eagle, an old train "on the Mopac line" that since has been shut down and sold to Mexico. His grandaddy, a railroad man, takes the narrator aboard for one last ride so he can experience it before it's gone forever.  "Home in time for supper with a tale to tell / That night I dreamed I heard that lonesome whistle wail," Earle finishes up the story in his reedy growl.  As one would expect from Earle, the bluegrass is historically accurate, with no glossy neo-touches or fusion detours; just straight, skilled picking. The playing is perfect but unpolished, loose, lived-in, and powered by dedication to the craft.

Billy And Bonnie - Steve Earle

Billy And Bonnie - Steve Earle

3:38

I Feel Alright, 1996

Written by Steve Earle

A modern "Bonnie and Clyde," an outlaw "Jack and Diane" from that most take-no-nonsense outlaw of alt-country pioneers.  "So they knocked off a Texaco south of town / Blew down the highway with the ragtop down."  It's a tale as old as the highway itself, ground Springsteen has traveled as well.  "Now Billy wasn't sweatin' no APB / 'Cause they didn't leave a single soul alive to see."  Earle's lyrics have always been storylike and cinematic; this song could be turned into a movie. There's even a twist ending.