Chickens! Concert Series #20: Steve Earle

Definitely different than I expected. You had your classic Steve Earle like Copperhead Road (of course), bluesy stuff, some slow stuff, and a bunch of stuff from his new album (pictured to the right). He had a DJ for many of his songs whom he periodically instructed to "kick it", which I enjoyed. The opener, Allison Moorer (Earle's wife as of 2005, turns out) was nice too, kind of mellow, folky, alternative-country stuff. But, right before her last song some jerkstore yells out "We want Steve Earle", and it's dead silent in there when he says it too. Ugh! What is wrong with some people?! Anyway, the whole auditorium groans and Alison says that's probably the rudest thing she's ever heard and everyone cheered. Ha!

Anywho, I'd say the most memorable song for me besides Copperhead Road (that was really the only song I could reliably recognize, which was good for me because his enunciation was Ozzy Osbourne-esque on it) was his cover of the Tom Waits song "Way Down in a Hole", which featured the DJ and some techno-y background sounds. Pretty sweet. Also, he told us stories. I like stories. We are definitely living in a different time than when his musical career began. It is pretty cool to hear him talking about how music can change the world. Annnd I learned a new instrument name: the "bouzouki". Hee hee.

p.s. Check out the video for City of Immigrants. FYI the blond lady is Alison Moorer.