Why we love Steve Earle

Why we love Steve Earle

Singer/songwriter headlines activist show in Asheville

By Polly McDaniel
FEATURES
EDITOR
published:
August 26,
2005 6:00 am

Songwriter/
activist
Steve Earle
never fails
to agitate,
whether
he's fighting
the death
penalty,
railing
against the
health
system or
lamenting
the death of
the labor
movement.
He's got lots
to say about
Iraq in his
latest
release,
"The
Revolution
Starts ...
Now," voted
the No. 1
album for
2004 by
WNC fans
on public
radio station
WNCW/
88.7-FM.

And he's

Steve Earle
photo: FILE PHOTO

Can't catch Steve Earle at the AirAid benefit tonight? He's playing Saturday at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. He also has a Sunday night show on Air America Radio, which you can listen to online at www.airamericaradio.com.

TO CHECK IT OUT

What: AirAid, a benefit for the Canary Coalition featuring Steve Earle, Larry and Jenny Keel and Steve "Big Daddy" McMurry
When: Doors open at 8 tonight, show starts at 9 p.m.
Where: The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave., 225-5851
How much: $20
On the Net: www.theorangepeel.net,
www.canarycoalition.org.
www.stevearle.com

hard to classify. You can't call him country, because he plays too much rock. You can't write him off as a rocker because of his hot bluegrass licks. Producers of Earle's albums must have take out a magical musical blender to swirl together his cocktail of folk, Celtic, rock, the blues and such.

Earle rolls into Asheville tonight for a show that's part music, part political rally called AirAid, in a benefit for the Canary Coalition, an organization that promotes clean-air laws and watchdog environmentalism. While he's the headliner, he'll have plenty of company on the stage. The bill includes Asheville Americana musicians Larry and Jenny Keel and Steve "Big Daddy" McMurry, formerly of Acoustic Syndicate, plus a litany of speakers such as poet Thomas Rain Crowe, Marjorie Mulhall of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, N.C. Rep. Susan Fisher and others.

Kind of makes you wonder how Earle's going to get a word in edgewise this go-round.

Avram Friedman, executive director of the Canary Coalition, views tonight's show "as more of a civil rights event than just an entertainment event." But he's happy to have the star power to draw people to hear the message and support the cause.

We couldn't catch up with the newly wed Earle, who recently married singer Allison Moorer in Nashville (making her wife No. 7). Since he was unavailable, we consulted with a few local fans to put together our own list of why we love Steve Earle.

While they're obviously not the only Earle fans around, John and Julie Stehling have been known to close down their popular Early Girl Eatery for the night when he's on a local stage. So here are their (and my) top reasons we love Steve Earle.

1. Bluegrass, Celtic, country and rock all on the same album, such as "Transcendental Blues." Which is why Earle won the Grammy this year in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category. And although nominated for "Transcendental Blues," his Grammy was for "The Revolution Starts ... Now."

2. Duets with Emmylou Harris. Such as "I Remember You" on

"Jerusalem" and "Comin' Round" on "The Revolution Starts ... Now."

3. He's not so Hollywood. "He's so approachable, like someone you would know," said Julie Stehling.

4. He's American in all the really good ways. Julie Stehling adds: "He's for his country and he's honest about his disagreements with his country." He's also honest about himself, she says. "He puts himself out there, definitely."

5. Bittersweet love songs such as "I Thought You Should Know" on "The Revolution Starts ... Now" to "I Don't Want to Lose You Yet" on "Transcendental Blues."

6. "Because he's just like the rest of us," said John Stehling. "He's tragically flawed."

Contact McDaniel at 232-5834 or PMcDaniel@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.