Country Radio Lives!

Just got back from seeing the family in Dallas for the 4th. While tooling around in Mom’s Merc I checked out the local flavor and tuned into Lone Star 92.5, the Clear Channel radio station I previously had posted on. Sure I could stream them online and enjoy the tunes here in Manhattan but it’s not the same as cruising around the rain soaked streets of my youth.

I one sitting I heard The Allman Brothers, Dylan, Reckless Kelly, Johnny Cash, The Drive By Truckers and Todd Snyder. This, in my mind, is heaven.

On the plane home we too AirTran Airlines. They are always good and, from my experience, mostly on time. Most importantly, the servers on board are always nice to my daughter and they get major points for that.

The airline offered XM Radio on board the plane and while my daughter was absorbed in Miyazaki’s superb animation feature Spirited Away, I checked out what XM had to offer. I stayed a while at “Willie’s Place” and was pleased to hear the old school outlaws represented – Merle, Ray, Leftie – legends you don’t hear enough of on commercial radio. I then headed over to X (cross) Country and it sweetened the deal with John Prine, Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle. I was sold. When I get out of the city and buy and truck the very next day I’m getting XM Radio. But when I drive it through Dallas, it’ll take a back seat the Lone Star 92.5.

Steve Earle Readies Washington Square Serenade

Rock and country singer/songwriter Steve Earle has readied his New West Records debut, Washington Square Serenade, for its September 25 release date. Produced by the Dust Brothers’ John King, the 12th studio album for Earle features his cover of Tom
Waits’ “Way Down In The Hole,” a track that doubles as the theme song for HBO series The Wire, on which Earle guests. And speaking of guests, singer/songwriter Allison Moorer, Earle’s seventh wife to date, makes an appearance on second-to-last track “Days Aren’t
Long Enough” while Brazilian fusion sixtet Forro In The Dark modernize “City Of Immigrants.” Unfortunately, the two won’t be joining Earle for a handful of solo acoustic performances scheduled for the late summer and fall.

“I guess I felt like it was time to do something different,” Earle says from the set of The Wire. “As far as the actual recording process goes, I guess I did everything different—but then in the end…it still comes down to the songs.”

A true Dylan tribute, the album will also be made available in deluxe edition form with a bonus DVD that includes a tour of New York City’s Greenwich Village with Earle as the guide.

Tracklist For Washington Square Serenade:
01. Tennessee Blues
02. Down Here Below
03. Satellite Radio
04. City Of Immigrants
05. Sparkle And Shine
06. Come Home To Me
07. Jericho Road
08. Oxycontin Blues
09. Red Is The Color
10. Steve’s Hammer (For Pete)
11. Days Aren’t Long Enough
12. Way Down In The Hole

Tour Dates For Steve Earle:
07/20 – Dolgellau, Wales – Sesiwnfawr Folk Festival
07/22 – Brampton, England – William Howard Centre
07/27 – Cambridge, England – Cherry Hinton Hall
07/28 – Westmeath, Ireland – Midland Music Festival
09/02 – Seattle, WA – Bumbershoot Festival At Seattle Center
09/15 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits At Zilker Park

www.steveearle.com
www.newwestrecords.com
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