According to the Austin grapevine, Steve Earle flew in strictly for the single solo show he did at The Parish Room Friday evening before heading back to NYC to continue working on his upcoming album. Thank you, Steve Earle.
Armed with only an acoustic guitar, Earle discreetly took the stage at the packed New West showcase, and with a single strum of his guitar quieted the at-capacity crowd. The obvious collective reverence for the man was deafening. Pulling his set list from his vast, ever-expanding, catalog, Earle dedicated the evening to his mentor & friend, the late, great Townes Van Zandt. Being so, the night was peppered with classic Townes anecdotes from one of the people who knew him best (the tale about Townes teaching Earle to ski on LSD was particularly good.)
Towards the end of Earle’s set, his wife, musician Alison Moorer, joined him on stage to duet “Comin’ Around,” which was originally recorded with Emmylou Harris in 2004. Afterwards Earle broke into a rousing acoustic rendition of “Copperhead Road;” alas, no one missed the bagpipe intro. All in all, Earle’s set was a definite 2007 SXSW highlight.
Below: Here is one of my favorite Earle love songs, “I Thought You Should Know,” off, ironically, one of my least favorite Earle LPs; 2004’s The Revolution Starts…Now.
Photo credit: Chromewaves. Taken Friday evening, between 11-12 pm, stage left.
Download:
MP3: Steve Earle :: I Thought You Should Know
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Amazon: Steve Earle – The Revolution Starts…Now
www.myspace.com/steveearle ++ www.steveearle.net ++ www.newwestrecords.com
+ Visit The Hype Machine for additional Steve Earle MP3s
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+ Steve Earle albums can be download via eMusic’s 25 free MP3 offer
[...] An Aquarium Drunkard reports on Steve Earle’s show at the Parish Room on Friday night. [...]
1 | KEXP Blog » Blog Archive » Today in Music: more from SXSW, Okkervil River, Modest Mouse, the White Stripes, Bjork and more March 20th, 2007 at 1:30 pmYou lucky sonuvagun. Sounds like a hell of a show.
2 | matt March 20th, 2007 at 2:22 pmI saw Steve Earle live once. I was a big fan prior to the show, but his personality was so unpleasant that I have trouble listening to his music now. He was arrogant and mean-spirited. I agree with probably 90 percent of his political positions as such, but his manner and logic were just simple-minded and nasty.
3 | miguel March 20th, 2007 at 11:50 pmgolly, his beard is bushy!
4 | jeffro March 21st, 2007 at 8:45 amthat dude looks entertaining…and a bit pissed
5 | Jesse March 26th, 2007 at 5:08 pm