Show Review

The last few years have proved to be quite a ride for Steve Earle. In 2002, after recording Jerusalem, which featured “John Walker’s Blues,” a controversial song about "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, Earle was viewed by many as an “unpatriotic” musician. Shrugging off those attacks from people who didn’t understand or wrongly judged the freedom-of-speech hardcore troubadour, Earle basked in the glow of Jerusalem’s 2003 Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album. And just a couple months ago, Earle took one step further and won a Grammy, this time for The Revolution Starts...Now, an album that cursed the FCC, FBI, and CIA and called U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “hot.”

The main goal for Revolution was obvious: Attack the war in Iraq and the administration of George W. Bush. Although Earle didn’t get his ultimate wish, the denial of a second “W” presidential term, he hasn’t found a need to shut up.

After touring Revolution throughout Europe, Earle and his band The Dukes, faced with knowing “W” would not be leaving Washington, D.C., still found it necessary to make their rounds in the U.S. The message for the American leg of the tour has remained the same but a new goal has surfaced: To stop the war and bring our boys back home from Iraq.

Throughout his two-hour performance, which began with a stomping version of “The Revolution Starts…,” Earle stood tall and lean, resembling a “shakey” Neil Young with his guitar. He talked some between songs, noting that the best ways to get over the war were, 1) Leave the Country, 2) Fall in Love, and 3) Cover a Rolling Stones song every night on tour. He gave us live examples of two of the three, singing and smooching with opening act Allison Moorer and performing The Stones’ “Sweet Virginia” near the end of the show. For some reason, judging by the smiles exchanged onstage between Earle and Moorer, love may have done the trick all by itself.

The highlight of the night, along with a cover of Son Volt’s “Windfall,” came during one of Earle’s best songs, “Christmas in Washington.” As the crowd sang along with Earle about the need for Woody Guthrie’s presence, one could only wonder why you would even associate Earle and the notion of being unpatriotic. While most of us are afraid to open our mouths during times of trouble, here is a man searching for the truth, unafraid to look at his own country before putting the blame on another. Although this man’s revolution probably started a long time ago, let’s hope it never ends.