(MCA Nashville) By 1984, Steve Earle was working on his third divorce and had been kicking around Nashville about a decade, not getting too far. He had a few publishing deals over the years, and several people tried to convince him to clean himself up a little to look a little more presentable, maybe run a comb through his hair, and he might do better if maybe he could write a nice chorus once in a while. He even made a conscious effort to 'sell out,' and even that didn't work. He signed a record deal with Epic, and released 4 singles that went nowhere, and the album was shelved. Despite it all, Noel Fox who worked at Silverline-Goldmine Music signed Steve to a publishing deal and encouraged him to just keep writing the way he always wrote. Shortly after being signed, he wrote "Goodbye Is All We've Got Left" and "Fearless Heart." A few weeks later, Steve attended a Bruce Springsteen show during his "Born In The USA" tour. It was the inspiration that Steve needed to find his direction. He realized he was going about things all wrong to make it work for him. He was concentrating on individual songs, and realized he needed to concentrate on an album, an entire series of songs that would document him, his life and the people, places and things that touched it.

After that, the songs kept coming..."Guitar Town," "Sweet Little Rock 'N' Roller," and "My Old Friend The Blues." In the meantime, Noel had been after Tony Brown, then-vice president of A&R at MCA to sign Steve. However, Steve's less than 'house-broken' reputation preceded him, and Tony wouldn't bite. Noel refused to give up and arranged for a songwriter's retreat, and invited Tony. There, "Hillbilly Highway" was written, and Tony even helped out on "Down The Road." It was then that Noel had Steve play the other songs he'd written for Tony. Steve returned to Nashville with a new record deal.

Guitar Town was quietly released in 1986, barely noticed. The first single broke the top 30 and vanished. Not a single country music reviewer wrote a single word about the album. However, rock music critics did take notice of Guitar Town, and influential writers such as Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau and Robert Hilburn hailed it and kept the buzz going until the next single, the album's title track "Guitar Town," was released. The single took off, and made it to the top 10, peaking at #8, and within a couple of weeks of the single's release, the album landed at #1. Three other cuts off the album subsequently charted, "Someday," "Goodbye Is All We've Got Left To Say" and "Hillbilly Highway.

Guitar Town came out during a transitional period in country music. People were burned out on the empty, soulless "Urban Cowboy"/crossover sound. The neo-trad movement was starting to pick up steam with the back-to-basics sounds of George Strait and Randy Travis. Out of the same movement, but from an opposite corner, emerged Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam, both of whom connected with a younger audience because they returned the soul and raw, honest emotion to the music. Dwight embraced the more traditional Bakersfield sound, while adding his own renegade twist and delivering it with a rock & roll swagger. Steve took the singer/songwriter approach, combining the personal and emotional punch of Hank Williams, with the 'dead end' tales of blue collar/small town life and heartbreak of Springsteen, delivering it with a grittier, hard hitting rock leaning attitude.

Guitar Town opens with the infectiously jangly rockabilly tinged title track, with it's Duane Eddy guitar riffs. The song is the tale of leaving behind the dead end, small town way of life, the ticket out being a guitar and life on the road. That theme is carried though on "Hillbilly Highway," with it's slapping, twanging bassline. "Someday" finds a small town gas station attendant dreaming of his ticket out, while the hard rocking "Good Ol' Boy (Getting Tough)" is a bitter resignation that trying to get ahead is a losing battle. The loneliness of life on the road is addressed through what still stands today as one of Steve's best songs, the quietly aching "My Old Friend The Blues." Though considered by most to be the weakest song on the album, "Sweet Little Rock 'N' Roller" is still a heartbreakingly poignant song Steve wrote about missing his young son while out on the road.

Steve writes his about his other personal experience, rocky relationships and his restless search for love. "Goodbye Is All We've Got Left To Say" is about the end of a relationship that he knows there's no point left in trying to save, yet he isn't ready to face it. The bass slapping, loping rockabilly "Think It Over" questions an 'on again-off again' relationship, while the driving "Fearless Heart" is in search of someone with a heart tough enough to match his own. "Down The Road" is another standout, a gospel-like bluegrass inflected song about not giving up on the search for true love.

The groundbreaking Guitar Town was greeted with the same silent reception that Waylon Jennings' groundbreaking album Honky Tonk Heroes, was a decade and a half earlier. With Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon changed the course of country music, breaking down barriers and doors and returning the soul, passion and emotion to country music. Steve Earle did the same with Guitar Town. While his own life and career has had it's ups and downs, he opened new doors and remains one of the most gifted, creative and respected singer/songwriters of our time.

In 2002, a re-mastered version of Guitar Town was released, with the project personally overseen by Steve and Tony Brown. The disc has been re-issued in it's original analog form that returns all the warm basslines that were missing from it's original CD release. It also contains new liner notes written by Steve, and includes a very fitting bonus track, his outstanding live version of Springsteen's "State Trooper."

AnnMarie Harrington TakeCountryBack July 2003