A primer on this accomplished country music master.
Inspired by Steve Earle
The troubadours and rockers impacted by the alt-country icon.
Steve Earle: Influences
Nashville in the ‘70s was a good place to get your start.
Steve Earle: Deep Cuts
An alt-country icon's social conscience emerges.
About Steve Earle
Artist Biography
Steve Earle is a singer-songwriter and actor known for his enduring outlaw spirit and deft musical storytelling, which incorporates country, folk, blues, and rock.
∙ He learned guitar at age 11, then moved to Nashville in 1974, playing bass and writing songs for country icon Guy Clark before eventually moving to Texas.
∙ Guitar Town, his 1986 debut, topped Billboard’s Country Albums chart and was included in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
∙ A longtime critic of the death penalty, Earle wrote “Ellis Unit One”—told from a prison guard’s perspective—for the 1995 Oscar-winning film Dead Man Walking.
∙ Earle won Grammy Awards for 2004’s The Revolution Starts Now, 2007’s Washington Square Serenade, and 2009’s Townes, honoring his musical mentor Townes Van Zandt.
∙ He had roles in acclaimed TV series The Wire and Treme—the latter earning him a 2010 Emmy nomination for his song “This City.”
∙ In 2017, he made his off-Broadway debut as the narrator in experimental playwright Richard Maxwell’s Samara, for which he also composed the score.
Hometown
Fort Monroe, VA, United States
Genre
Country
Steve Earle: Member of
Steve Earle is also a member of, or has been a member of the following groups