Drinking Mad Dog Margaritas and not caring where you are…

Occasional Albums Thing 063 - Steve Earle & The Dukes “Guy”

Part 2 in Steve Earle’s series of albums dedicated to other songwriters he regards as his “first-hand teachers”, this one concerning the works of Texas singer-songwriter, and luthier, Guy Clark. Steve Earle has recorded 4 albums of others songs, 10 years prior to this, in 2009, Earle had recorded “Townes”, a collection of the songs of his mentor Townes van Zandt. 2 years after “Guy” he released “J.T.”, featuring the songs of his son Justin Townes Earle, not because he wanted to but because he had to after J.T. passed. Our next post will introduce you to part 3 of the albums featuring those teachers, “Jerry Jeff”, 2022’s run through the songs of Jerry Jeff Walker.

Guy Clark fixed Steve Earle up with his first job as a songwriter in Nashville, he was credited with early development of the musical style now known as Americana (defined by the the  Americana Music Association as being "…the rich threads of country, folk, blues, soul, bluegrass, gospel, and rock in our tapestry.”). In his work as a luthier Guy said he never built guitars for sale but only to give to people he thought needed them. He wrote songs that were covered by Rodney Crowell, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, the Everly Brothers, Vince Gill,  Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ricky Skaggs, The Highwaymen and of course, ‘cos that’s what we’re talking about here, Steve Earle.

Side 1 is quite honestly stunning. It begins on the laid back but strangely groovy “Dublin Blues” from Guy’s 1995 album of the same name. If you’ve ever seen the TV series “Landman” with Billy Bob Thornton it would definitely have fit on that shows soundtrack. Next up is “LA Freeway”, Guy’s potted life story in a lovely ballad. “Texas 1947”s twangy guitars and wailing pedal steel are then followed by the stunning “Desperados Waiting For A Train” written in memory of Jack Prigg, who Guy considered his grandfather. Prigg was a driller of oil wells and teller of tall tales who lived with Guy’s grandmother at her boardinghouse in the town of Monahans, Texas. "Deperadoes...", along with “Dublin Blues”, has been stuck in my head most of December, when I got this record, and all through January with no sign of shifting in February !

The whole record has a mostly laid back pickers just pickin’ and drinkin’ and smokin’ feel about it. There are a couple of barnstormers like “New Cut Road” a proper Bluegrass hoedown. I feel I must mention that there is some beautiful pedal steel playing throughout courtesy of Duke Ricky Ray Jackson. Emmylou Harris, Jerry Jeff Walker and Rodney Crowell all contributed vocals to final song “Old Friends”.

…and I don’t have much more to say about “Guy” than that. I think I’ve said elsewhere (or I’m about to) that Steve Earle makes anything he touches sound like Steve Earle, so if you’re familiar with his thing or you’ve clicked on the links in any of the posts I’ve written about him you’ll know what to expect here. Steve performs his friends work with care and respect and there are some very, very good songs here that you may wanna check out.

Dublin Blues - https://youtu.be/wrNWrG385hg?si=9zFOGbd7pG0zVB1j