MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

American singer-songwriter Steve Earle is best known today as a contemporary folk musician, occasionally labeled “alt-country,” more often lumped into that broad church of “Americana,” but in 1986, with the release of his debut album, Guitar Town, Earle was feted as a potential savior of a then-moribund country music industry. Five years later, after four studio albums and one live compilation, MCA Records canceled his contract, as Earle fell victim to personal problems and substance abuse, beginning a three-year slide “into the ghetto,” as Earle refers to this period of his life.

This paper examines the early years of Earle’s recording career, with a particular focus on both lyrical and musical themes. In particular, it will be argued that, despite the hopes of Nashville, Earle’s music from the outset owed more to a rock sensibility than that of country, and that this became more marked over the four studio albums he made for MCA. At the same time, he also began to incorporate elements of other music forms and genres (for example, the Celtic influences on “Johnny Come Lately,” from Copperhead Road, 1988). Hence, MCA’s decision to drop him from the label in 1991 owed as much to musical differences as it did to Earle’s growing problems – the latter merely provided a convenient excuse.