PLUCKING AT HEARTSTRINGS
* STEVE EARLE'S FINE BLUEGRASS JIM FARBER
* 02/02/99
New York Daily News
(Copyright 1999 Daily News, L.P.)
* STEVE EARLE AND THE DEL McCOURY BAND
"The Mountain"
(E-Squared)
* Steve Earle likes to rotate the records he makes, splitting them
between folk songs, rock songs and country songs. For his latest
* release he confined himself to bluegrass songs, channeling the spirit
of genre genius Bill Monroe through melodies and lyrics of his own.
* To back him up, Earle chose the four-piece bluegrass Del McCoury
band, making energetic use of its prickly mandolins, scratchy violins
and high-strung banjos. (The singer and band perform this material
and more at Town Hall on March 20.)
Earle has a natural affinity for these twangy sounds. He can mine
the style of Kentucky mountain music without sounding like he's
playing a character. The traditional tales of doomed coal miners,
lonesome train riders and jealous murderers come naturally to a voice
like his, which can capture any hard life. The music's pleasure
provides a sweet contrast to the lyrics' pain there's such zest to
the playing of a song like "Carrie Brown," you may not notice at
first that it tells the tale of a guy who killed his lover in a
jealous fit and now stands ready to hang.
There's a special dignity to these songs. They speak of people
with little money and few prospects, who never let such things spoil
their capacity for joy. Somewhere, Bill Monroe must be grinning.
