I look at this album and can't recognize the cover star. I've grown accustomed to thinking of Steve Earle as that grey-bearded elder statesman who keeps infuriating the world of country music with his leftist political views. The young hopeful posing for this cover 30 years ago seems like a different person. "Guitar Town" was a very successful debut, receiving great reviews, rising to No.1 of the Country and Western charts and getting two Grammy nominations. He was touted as a possible successor to the great country outlaws like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, though he was really closer to singer-songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark - with some added rock'n'roll swagger. Opener "Guitar Town" is a classic tale of life on the road with twanging sixties guitar, while "Goodbye's All We've Got Left" (another country top 10) and "Someday" are some of the songs that invited comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, musically bridging country and rock but, more crucially, displaying a thoughtful songwriting that set Earle apart from the average Nashville singer. Sure enough, there's also some classic country like the honky tonk "Hillbilly Highway", "Think It Over" and "Down the Road" as well as sentimental (but thankfully not corny) ballads like "My Old Friend the Blues"and "Little Rock 'n' Roller". Unsurprisingly though, it's the rockers that win me over, like "Fearless Heart" (The Boss meets Tom Petty? something like that) and Southern rocker "Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough)" with its typical Earle protagonist: a hard luck trucker facing defeat with bruised dignity. The reissue of the album adds one track: a live cover of "State Trooper" from Springsteen's Nebraska (1982), further highlighting the similarities between the two artists - although, to be fair, one may argue that that particular Springsteen album is haunted by the spirit of Johnny Cash, which brings us full circle to Nashville and outlaw country. In any case, Earle wasn't destined to join the country & western pantheon. Despite equally good follow-up "Copperhead Road", his star would soon flicker and wane under the influence of drugs and alcohol. From his battle with them he would emerge a wiser man and more mature songwriter, but the swagger and glamor of his youth would be left behind. But who needs another country star anyway? He's made (and keeps making) great records, surely that's all one can ask for...
**** for Guitar Town, Goodbye's All We've Got Left, Hillbilly Highway, Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough), Someday
*** for My Old Friend the Blues, Think It Over, Fearless Heart, Little Rock 'n' Roller, State Trooper
** for Down the Road
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