Earle writes about the road life in a way that a non-picker can understand, maybe can even see himself or herself living. The title song from Guitar Town is the tale of a Nashville-based road musician who’s Texas-bound for some shows, and it doesn’t simply address the stereotypes of road life that a travelling artist can identify with, like motel living, female companionship and the rush of being on stage. In 1986 MCA released Earle’s album Guitar Town, and the title track became an anthem for road musicians and helped establish Earle as a foremost practitioner of what some critics called “twang-rock.” But his own recording career was going nowhere until he hooked up with producer Tony Brown at MCA Records. Beginning especially since Chet Atkins hung his shingle on Music Row, Nashville has been known as “guitar town.”īy the mid-1980s Steve Earle had been kicking around Nashville for a decade, playing bass for Guy Clark and having his songs cut by such artists as Johnny Lee and the late Carl Perkins. In 1966 John Sebastian, in the song “Nashville Cats,” wrote “There’s thirteen hundred and fifty-two guitar pickers in Nashville.” Today there are probably a hundred times that many people in the Nashville area who, if not professionally, can play at least a couple chords on a guitar.
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