Steve Earle, one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation, joins Andrew Mueller to discuss his new tour, play and why his enduring hit ‘Copperhead Road’ is the newest state song of Tennessee, where marijuana remains illegal. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I made a lot of mistakes and I got clean by getting locked up.
And my suggestion is go to the Betty Ford Center.
You know, I could have and I didn't and I ended up having to get locked up.
This week's guest is Steve Earle, one of the most acclaimed singer songwriters of his generation.
A protege of legendary country songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, Earl quickly became a master storyteller in his own right and early on at least appeared determined to inhabit the lives of the outlaws and outcasts that populated his songs.
Songs which have been recorded by, among others, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt and Percy Sledge.
Earl has established himself as a genuine country legend, despite cheerfully professing a political outlook not calculated to endear him to country's more conservative fans.
Earl recently returned to the European stage with his Alone Again solo and Acoustic tour, during which he visited Midori House the afternoon of his show at London's Barbican.
I'm Andrew Muller and I spoke to Steve Earle for the big interview.
I wanted to come in with the recent ennoblement of Copperhead Road by the Tennessee legislature.
It's now an official state song.
Did you enjoy the irony of Tennessee embracing this tale of a moonshiners sun turned marijuana planter?
Well, I enjoyed the irony of it, but I also enjoyed the honor of it.
I'm 68 years old.
So things started becoming, everything's becoming about legacy at this point and I'm not, you know, a lot of people don't want to admit that, but I have no problem with it whatsoever.
Somebody said this was immediately after the same body had expelled two members because they, it was, it was a demonstration on the floor which was probably a breach of protocol and it's happened and normally you're censured for that.
And they expelled the tube people and there were three people that they tried to expel and the two that were expelled were black and the one that wasn't had tenure and was white and it was, you know, it stunk and it was one of those things.
But I had friends that literally lefty friends that were like, they're wonder about me anyway mainly because of the existence of my last record and a lot of other stuff because I've said some stuff that freaks them out.
But you're not going to accept that, are you?
And I'm like yes, I'm going to accept that because number one, I mean I fully think I looked on the website and they print the lyrics out on the Website.