Guitar Town [LP]

by Steve Earle

Overview

On Steve Earle's first major American tour following the release of his debut album, Guitar Town, Earle found himself sharing a bill with Dwight Yoakam one night and the Replacements another, and one listen to the album explains why -- while the music was country through and through, Earle showed off enough swagger and attitude to intimidate anyone short of Keith Richards. While Earle's songs bore a certain resemblance to the Texas outlaw ethos (think Waylon Jennings in "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" mode), they displayed a literate anger and street-smart snarl that set him apart from the typical Music Row hack, and no one in Nashville in 1986 was able (or willing) to write anything like the title song, a hilarious and harrowing tale of life on the road ("Well, I gotta keep rockin' while I still can/Got a two-pack habit and motel tan") or the bitterly unsentimental account of small-town life "Someday" ("You go to school, where you learn to read and write/So you can walk into the county bank and sign away your life"), the latter of which may be the best Bruce Springsteen song the Boss didn't write. And even when Earle gets a bit teary-eyed on "My Old Friend the Blues" and "Little Rock 'n' Roller," he showed off a battle-scarred heart that was tougher and harder-edged than most of his competition. Guitar Town is slightly flawed by an overly tidy production from Emory Gordy, Jr., and Tony Brown as well as a band that never hit quite as hard as Earle's voice, and he would make many stronger and more ambitious records in the future, but Guitar Town was his first shot at showing a major audience what he could do, and he hit a bull's-eye -- it's perhaps the strongest and most confident debut album any country act released in the 1980s. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	05/06/2016
Label:	Mca
UPC:	0602547704870
Rank:	34872

Tracks

1. Guitar Town
2. Goodbye's All We've Got Left
3. Hillbilly Highway
4. Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough)
5. My Old Friend the Blues
6. Someday
7. Think It Over
8. Fearless Heart
9. Little Rock 'n' Roller
10. Down the Road

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Steve Earle   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Steve Earle & the Dukes   Primary Artist
The Dukes   Primary Artist
John Jarvis   Guest Artist,Piano,Synthesizer
Paul Franklin   Pedal Steel
Emory Gordy Jr.   Bass,Mandolin
Steve Nathan   Synthesizer
Richard Bennett   Bass,Guitar,Slap Bass,6-String Bass
Bucky Baxter   Guitar,Pedal Steel,Pedal Steel Banjo
Harry Stinson   Drums,Vocals
Reno Kling   Bass
Mike McAdam   Guitar
Michael McAdam   Guitar
Reno King   Bass
Ken Moore   Organ,Keyboards,Synthesizer

Technical Credits

Chuck Ainlay   Mixing,Engineer,Overdub Engineer
Reno King   Composer
Robbie Rose   Engineer
Ryan Null   Photo Coordination
Charlie Paakkari   Mixing
Mark J. Coddington   Engineer
Michael Murphy   Reissue Supervisor
Steve Earle   Composer,Liner Notes,Remastering,Reissue Supervisor
Joan Jett   Composer
Emory Gordy Jr.   Producer
John Porter McMeans   Composer
Robert Vosgien   Mastering
Richard Bennett   Composer,Associate Producer
Ricky Byrd   Composer
Ray Kennedy   Mastering,Mastering Consultant
Richard Carpenter   Composer
Jimbeau Hinson   Composer
Alan Menken   Composer
Bruce Springsteen   Composer
Timothy R. Powell   Engineer
Tim Kish   Engineer
Glenn Meadows   Mastering,Remastering
Kenny Laguna   Composer
Russ Martin   Engineer,Overdub Engineer
Vartan   Art Direction
Reno Kling   Composer
Tim Devine   Producer
Tony Brown   Composer,Producer,Remastering,Reissue Supervisor
Michael Diehl   Design
Bill Brunt   Design
Beth Stempel   Production Coordination
Simon Levy   Art Direction
Alan Messer   Photography
Steve Tillisch   Engineer,Overdub Engineer
Andy McKaie   Reissue Supervisor
Keith Odle   Engineer