Steve Earle - old country troubador

Leeds Irish Centre 10/11/11

It says a 7.30pm start on the ticket so I get there at 8.00pm only to find the place silent, full and listening attentively to an acoustic Steve Earle who has been on stage precisely 30 minutes. The Leeds Irish Centre is a split level arrangement. One look towards the front persuades me to settle for a place at the back but the crowd chatter once the quiet song ends and a louder one begins means I can’t stay there so I muscle my way apologetically towards the front and luckily bump into the people I’d arranged to meet. I reflect on the way  gigs now seem to run to schedule and berate myself for failing to remember that this is one of Earle’s marathon ensemble appearances – his version of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder in which he showcases the talents of his travelling band, including his wife Alison Moorer.

When I last saw Earle in 2009 in a solo concert at the city’s Grand Theatre he’d remarked that the Irish Centre was one of his favourite venues – a boisterous and no holds barred atmosphere perfect for his Celtic Americana. He is an enigma, with the prison record and history of near death addiction authenticity that many gravelled-voiced singer songwriters around today can only replicate in works of fiction. His subtle voice and delicate guitar playing convey political messages that speak for the minorities. He would be the natural successor to Johnny Cash if he wasn’t also his partial contemporary. In short, Earle is the real deal and treats his audiences with a respect and generosity that screams gratitude for the success as a musician, writer and actor that the last twelve years of a clean and sober life have brought him.

Live performers of Earle’s experience trust their audience. They have a confidence which means they don’t feel the need to please at every turn. This means the sound is quite low, so that the subtlety of the playing and the component parts of the band shine through. And what a band. Earle describes them as the ‘best fucking band I’ve ever stood in front of’, reminding me of Springsteen’s description of playing with the E Street Band as like being handed the keys to a Ferrari. As this is the final date of a world tour that started in June, there seems to be a special telepathy and an assurance that only comes from a mutual understanding and conviction in the material.

It’s a mainly grizzled, middle aged audience but his best known songs get even these people of a certain age jumping around – ‘Copperhead Road’, ‘Galway Girl’, 'Guitar Town'. All the band members take centre stage at some point, including Moorer who has a voice to rank with the best. Earle sets the scene for a few songs, extolling the virtues of the Trade Union movement at one point and describing how he got involved in acting and writing songs for the TV series ‘Treme’.  Even with an interval they play for nearly three hours but it never drags – an air-punching climax of ‘The Revolution Starts Now’ and a heartbreaking ‘Fort Worth Blues’ and it’s unreasonable to expect them to come back for more but they do before then departing for a final time.

One of the great things about the new ‘troubadour’ movement is the oxygen it’s provided for performers of Earle’s generation. He hasn’t changed, of course, but the demand for analogue-derived, old-fashioned music which celebrates the heritage of people like Hank Williams and Townes van Zandt is spawning a period of great creativity – his son Justin Townes Earle is also making a real name for himself on the new country circuit. America has reclaimed its roots and in so doing has re-energised the live UK music scene, the re-birth of folk providing the very British parallel. It all makes for the most diverse live music scene for a generation, a melting pot of old and new, an evolving source of inspiration and excitement.