The Warner Bros Years (Rhino/Warner, 2013)
Steve Earle
Reviewed by Michael Verity
That said, it's kind of cool to have all three albums in one place, if for no other reason than to bore friends and family with stories of where you were in the '90s when you first heard Disc four is a 14-song live set recorded at the Polk Theater in Nashville on Dec. 1, 1995. Those who saw Earle's acoustic outfit during those years will remember the work of mando player Peter Rowan, guitarist Norman Blake and bassist Roy Husky, Jr., their musicianship ably documented here on cuts like Equally important, the set includes three cuts featuring Emmylou Harris and another highlighting the great Bill Monroe. Bill's turn with Steve on The final disc is the best part of the package. It's a live concert DVD recorded by MTV in 1996 at the Cold Creek Correctional Facility in Tennessee. Cold Creek is where Earle spent 11 months in prison for drug possession, a "time-out," he says, that saved his life. Backed by The Dukes, who were particularly incendiary at the time, this 10-song set shows Earle at his mid-'90s best: Edited into the concert are interviews with inmates who talk about why they're in jail, most of them serving sentences of at least 10 years for crimes committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Far from being preachy, the interviews are forthright and extremely sad. One inmate, a 21-year old sentenced to life in prison, speaks of a murder he committed in a blackout, a crime he doesn't even remember. Music notwithstanding, Steve Earle always delivers a message that can't be denied, and that makes this box set a worthwhile purchase.
CDs by Steve Earle
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