With Steve Earle & The Dukes playing a much-anticipated show for ‘Listening Lawn’ at Grand Rapids’ Studio Park on Wednesday, Local Spins offers up a playlist of songs spanning his remarkable career.
Hard-Core Troubadour: Steve Earle & The Dukes make a Grand Rapids tour stop on Wednesday. (Courtesy Photo)
SCROLL DOWN FOR PLAYLIST
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Prolific doesn’t begin to describe Steve Earle’s output over the years.
Even during his darkest, most tortured, drug-addled days of yore, Earle managed to create some of the most compelling, most important music that American singer-songwriters have produced over the past four decades. (He’s been sober since the mid-1990s.)
A country rebel whose music spews rock ‘n’ roll fire as well as folk-fueled lyricism, Earle’s uniquely earthy, insightful, political, edgy and tender songs have influenced generations of fellow songwriters and his collaborations with legendary artists — from Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Emmylou Harris to the Del McCoury Band and The Supersuckers — have created musical sparks.
Steve Earle and the Dukes (Courtesy Photo/Electric Lady Studios)
Now 67, he released his 22nd album, “Jerry Jeff,” in May, a tribute to the music of Jerry Jeff Walker — following up similar collections paying homage to his late son, Justin Townes Earle, as well as influential songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. Earle also hosts a show on Sirius XM Radio, all while writing two books and his second play.
At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Steve Earle & The Dukes play Listening Room’s “Listening Lawn” series outside Studio Park in downtown Grand Rapids, with The Whitmore Sisters getting the evening started. Tickets, $60 seated and $45 standing, are available online here.
To prepare for this week’s much-talked-about Grand Rapids show — Earle’s only Michigan stop on this leg of his North American tour — Local Spins has assembled the ultimate Steve Earle Playlist.
It’s a potent collection of enduring songs that he’s written or interpreted since releasing his head-turning 1986 debut album, “Guitar Town,” which many rank among the best albums of the rock era. And it confirms his status as a true “Hard-Core Troubadour.”
STEVE EARLE: The Ultimate Local Spins Playlist
Copyright 2022, Spins on Music LLC
