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STEVE EARLE & THE DEL McCOURY BAND - "The Mountain"

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STEVE EARLE & THE DEL McCOURY BAND

“The Mountain”

E-Squared - February 23, 1999

Given the travesties delivered upon my native nation in the last week by its Supreme Court, it seemed highly appropriate to lean on an artist who has been politically outspoken throughout a distinguished and diverse career. Steve Earle has been on the right side (and by that I mean the “correct side”) of the reproductive rights debate since his youth when a girlfriend received an illegal abortion prior to the passing of Roe v. Wade. I’ll try to leave the politics to my sister column, “The Kielty Konsideration,” but if you want a respite from the mind-numbing cruel stupidity emanating from Washington, DC you can’t do much better than listening to a singer who has performed in protest outside the Supreme Court performing as distinctive a brand of American music as bluegrass, backed by the legendary Del McCoury Band. Earle, who had established his own legend status in the annals of “Outlaw Country” - he followed up a successful debut single, “Guitar Town,” (that hit number seven on the Billboard Hot Country chart) with a string of songs covered by the likes of Carl Perkins, Travis Tritt and Joan Baez, along with the requisite hard drug habit and jail stint on a weapons charge - wrote fourteen original bluegrass songs for this effort. Inspired by his admiration for "The Father of Bluegrass Music," Bill Monroe, “The Mountain” is an ambitious effort that does both the inspiration and the artist celebrating it justice. The banjo and fiddle fury of, “Carrie Brown,” is followed wonderfully by the “tears in beers” lament of “I’m Still In Love With You,” where Earle duets beautifully with Iris DeMent. When Earle croons on the resounding title track, “I was young on this mountain but now I am old, And I knew every holler, every cool swimmin' hole,” he may as well be describing the familiarity that Del (guitar and tenor vocals) and sons, Ronnie (mandolin and vocals) and Robbie (banjo) McCoury have with the rugged terrain of bluegrass while the influence of the Pogues (who inspired and appeared on Earle’s “Copperhead Road” album) shows up on “Dixieland.” Assembling a chorus that includes such roots stalwarts as Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (who once proudly showed me a hat he wears onstage that once belonged to Monroe, and yes, I did try it on) for the album’s finale, “The Pilgrim,” speaks to the respect afforded Earle, the McCoury’s and the Monroe legacy. A tour supporting the album ended abruptly due to either Earle’s potty mouth (Del’s claim) or a disagreement on money and billing (Earle’s version) but not before a magical appearance at the Somerville Theater just outside of Boston where a sold-out crowd (present company included) luxuriated in all that talent gathered around one microphone. The quality of this music is something for all Americans to be proud of.

Standouts: “The Mountain,” “Carrie Brown,” “The Pilgrim”

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