Reviews

Artist:Steve Earle
Venue:The Sage
Town:Gateshead
Date:02/11/09
Website:http://www.steveearle.com

Support for the evening, I had hoped would be from Steve Earles’s wife, Allison Moorer, but instead came from young Texan, Rhett Miller, who came on stage and immediately started joking about the Geordie accent, before taking us through a variety of his songs. These ranged from material from his newly released self titled CD, to the song he and his band, Old 97, performed in front of Jennifer Aniston, in the film The Breakup. He oozes confidence and has a great personality, but unfortunately, musically, he reminded me too much of a young Ryan Adams – just too loud. That said, I am sure that all of those inclined towards that ilk of music will have found him very entertaining.

After the interval, Steve Earle took to the stage, to huge applause, looking more cowboy than singer, in a denim jeans and a checked shirt. From the outset it was apparent that, at almost 55, he has maintained that distinctive, gravelly voice. I was pleased that there was no band, as it afforded us the chance to really appreciate that voice, along with Steve’s incredible guitar and mandolin playing, without the distraction of other instruments. My only gripe would be, that like Dwight Yoakam, Steve is somewhat prone to mumbling, so at times it was impossible to understand what he was singing.

Telling us of his new CD, Townes, composed entirely of Townes Van Zandt songs, he joked that he has no idea how he got it from 28 to 15 songs, so he had applied his own life experience to the selection, hence the opening track. He described the opportunity to make the CD as ‘..a gift from Townes,’ before strumming guitar whilst he told us a little (a la Nanci Griffith) about Townes. This was, quite simply, awesome. Taking us through a veritable catalogue of Townes’ songs, from Pancho and Lefty, which I’d had no idea he wrote, to Colorado Girl, whilst he joked that Townes always said there were just two types of music, blues and zippedy doo dah. As he talked to the audience, there was no questioning how ariculate Steve is, as he told anecdote after anecdote about Townes, a man about whom he clearly thought the world.

One such story, speaking of his love for Colorado, told of the day it took Townes and his horse, Amigo, 8.5 hours to travel 58 miles from Crested Butte to Aspen, such was the magnitude of the snowstorm in which they found themselves.

Another, was preceded by Steve telling us that Townes had a hard time reconciling himself to the fact that he had come from money whilst others struggled. He had, it seems, a penchant for bringing homeless people back home, even when he didn’t have his own him.. In this case, he would take them home to someone else’s house. It apparently wasn’t uncommon to have Townes stay, wake up and he’d be gone, but there’d be ‘some random’ in your kitchen.

Speaking of his own back catalogue, he said, ‘I’ve written a lot of songs! I remember them all, though not necessarily where they fit over the years.’ With that he treated us to a selection of his best known songs, including Taney Town, Galway Girl and Fort Worth Blues, which left me pining to go back to Texas.

Ending the set with another Townes song, about heaven, Steve concluded by saying to Townes, ‘I’ll see you when I get there, Mestro,’ holding up his guitar like a musical toast to his hero and friend. Then he addressed the audience, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Townes Van Zandt,’ and a huge standing ovation followed, I suspect both for Steve and for the man, who through Steve’s stories, we had come to feel we had known personally.

Returning for an encore, Steve thanked us, appearing very genuine, for attending, despite the current economic climate, and told us that this tour would be ending February 2nd in Boulder, Colorado, one of Townes’ special places. He has a book out next year and both he and Allison (Moorer) have CDs due out next year.

Calling for audience participation, he dedicated ‘In the Hole’ to all insomniacs and Tom Waits fans, following which he launched into a rockin’ version of Guitar Town. As it came to an end, I thought my luck was out and I wasn’t going to hear him play Copperhead Road, then, after a brief pause, he picked up his guitar again. From the opening chords and the massive applause, it was clear that this was the song he wouldn’t get away without playing, and had everyone tapping their feet and singing along.

By the end of the night I am confident that all present felt they had spent their evening in the presence of two very talented musicians, who, through this collaboration of sorts, had, for almost two hours, turned Gateshead into its very own Guitar Town.

Helen Mitchell

Images taken from stock, not at venue