CD Review

Steve Earle is widely known as one of the most important country and folk singers of his generation. From his 1986 debut Guitar Town, which kick-started the outlaw country movement of the time, to 2004’s The Revolution Starts…Now, a vitriolic stab to the side of the Bush Administration, Earle has earned an indelible legacy as an important songwriter. Few laud him as a producer, though.

It’s time. The man who was behind Lucinda Williams’ 1998 masterpiece Car Wheels on a Gravel Road has worked his magic again on this defining album for his wife Allison Moorer. Getting Somewhere establishes the Alabama native as a viable commodity in pop music. In fact, soaring vocals and impossibly catchy hooks could turn terrific songs like “Fairweather” and “Work to Do” into Moorer’s first real radio hits.

The downside is that Earle’s fingerprints are so thick that they can be overwhelming at times. The raw and beefy electric guitar chugs he’s layered on Moorer’s tunes occasionally make them sound uncomfortably close to his own backing band, the Dukes. That might leave some longtime Moorer fans scratching their heads as they tuck Getting Somewhere into a stack of dusty CDs. Too bad. This is Moorer’s finest moment yet.