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| STEVE EARLE WITH SPECIAL GUEST ALLISON MOORER | ||||||||||||||
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Stephen Fain Earle was born on 17 January 1955 in Ft. Monroe, Virginia, and by the time he realized he wanted to become a musician, he was off to Nashville, TN. In Nashville, Steve played in various bands to support himself. Steve's first known professional recording was with Guy Clark on Guy's 1975 album Old No. 1. Steve sang back-up vocals (along with Rodney Crowell, Sammy Smith, and Emmylou Harris on the song Desperados Waiting For A Train. Steve eventually wrote songs that were recorded by some major musical players at the time. After landing his first publishing deal with Sunbury Dunbar (a division of RCA) in November '75 (he was with them until '78), he received $75 per week draw as a staff writer. Steve almost had a song, Mustang Wine, recorded by Elvis Presley in 1975... but Elvis never showed up for the session. The song was recorded by Carl Perkins the next year, and Johnny Lee had a Top 10 hit in 1982 with When You Fall In Love, a song that Steve co-wrote with John Scott Sherrill. From 1982-1985, Steve recorded some rockabilly tracks for Epic, but Epic did a poor job promoting him and the singles had little success. The songs from a 7" vinyl EP released in 1982, Pink & Black, later showed up in the post-Guitar Town (1986) frenzy as Early Tracks (1987). Epic wasn't totally stupid better late than never. The songs, in the rockabilly genre, reinforced Steve's reputation as an accomplished songwriter. Guitar Town garnered glowing reviews and commercial success and brought Steve his first two Grammy nominations: 1987's Best Country Male Vocalist (for the album) and Best Country Song (Guitar Town). Steve was also named 1986's Country Artist Of The Year in Rolling Stone Magazine's Critics Poll. The album went Gold in the US in 1999. In 1987, the critically acclaimed Exit 0 was released. I Ain't Ever Satisfied gained some rock air play, but that made the country radio stations skittish and the single released to that market, Nowhere Road, wasn't given much of a chance. The album resulted in Steve's third and fourth Grammy nominations: 1988's Best Country Male Vocalist (for the album) and Best Country Song (Nowhere Road). Copperhead Road followed in 1988 and represented a sharper turn towards rock. The album's only commercial U.S. single was Copperhead Road, which was targeted exclusively to rock radio. Other promotional-only singles (Nothing But A Child, Even When I'm Blue, and Back To The Wall) were released in the U.S., but never marketed with any real conviction. A better effort was made in the U.K., which released commercial singles of Copperhead Road, Back To The Wall, and a rare 3" CD single of Johnny Come Lately. An equally hard-sounding The Hard Way was released in 1990 and had one UK single released, Justice in Ontario. The live recording Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator followed in 1991 and was the last album of Steve's contract with MCA. The label chose not to renew his contract when it expired due to the escalating severity of his long-standing drug problem. What followed was a four year creative drought and Steve virtually disappeared from the music scene. Steve was arrested and sent to prison for possession of narcotics, which, ironically, may have ultimately saved his life. He successfully completed a rehab program and was paroled in late 1994. Transcendental Blues, an album with a mix of rock, bluegrass, and Irish music was released on E-Squared/Artemis in June 2000 and was nominated for a 2001 Grammy in the Contemporary Folk album category (Steve's eighth Grammy nomination). Three singles were released to radio (no commercial releases): Transcendental Blues, I Can Wait, and Everyone's In Love With You in the US. A remixed version of The Galway Girl, recorded with Sharon Shannon, was commercially released in the UK as a single. Allison Moorer was raised in Frankville, Ala., just north of Mobile. Weaned on George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris, she sang harmonies as a toddler, eventually thinking she'd make a career of it. At 14, her father killed her mother after an argument, then killed himself. Following the tragedy, she and sister Shelby Lynne moved into their aunt and uncle's home. Not long afterwards, Lynne moved to Nashville for a career in music, and after her high school graduation, Moorer followed. She sang harmonies with Lynne for a while but returned to Alabama to earn a degree in public relations. She skipped the graduation ceremony to move back to Nashville. Her song "A Soft Place to Fall" was tapped for The Horse Whisperer in 1998, and she also appeared in the movie. Because the ballad earned her an Academy Award nomination, she performed it on the 1999 Oscars ceremony. However, none of her singles from Alabama Song or its follow-up The Hardest Part caught on at radio, though both projects were highly praised by critics. When Brown moved from MCA to Universal South, Moorer followed. After releasing a live CD and DVD on Universal South, Moorer moved to independent label Sugar Hill Records. With a slightly rougher edge than past efforts, The Duel was released in April 2004. About a year after The Duel, Moorer divorced Primm and married Steve Earle, after serving as his opening act on a European tour. He produced her 2006 album, Getting Somewhere Moorer wrote all the songs by herself, with the exception of one co-write with Earle. The couple also lives in New York City. |
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