Steve Earle

He’s a Texas-to-Nashville transplant and a balladeer with an articulate business sense. But, from the way he assembled his band to his strong reverence for songwriting craft, Steve Earle embodies some of country music’s more venerable traits.

What he’s jettisoned are its anachronisms, yielding a beautifully-balanced, refreshing sound which calls to mind the Everlys’ most classic cuts. Lyrically, Earle leans more toward Tom Petty than Ernest Tubb; his honky-tonk aesthetic is thor-