Steve Earle & The Dukes - GUY [Vinyl]

Guy] and knew why they call what artists do disciplines. Because he was disciplined.” The same can be said of Earle. In the fall of 2018, Steve and The Dukes went into House Of Blues studio in Nashville and recorded GUY in six days. “I wanted it to sound live...When you’ve got a catalog like Guy’s and you’re only doing sixteen tracks, you know each one is going to be strong.” Earle and his current, perhaps best-ever Dukes lineup, take on these songs with a spirit of reverent glee and invention. The tunes are all over the place and so is the band, offering max energy on such disparate entries as the bluegrass rave-up “Sis Draper” and the talking blues memoir of “Texas 1947.” Earle’s raw vocal on the sweet, sad “That Old Time Feeling” is heartbreaking, sounding close enough to the grave as to be doing a duet with his late friend and mentor. You can hear little hints of where Earle came from. The stark “Randall Knife” has the line “a better blade that was ever made was probably forged in Hell,” which wouldn’t be out of place in a Steve Earle original. Also hard to beat is “The Last Gunfighter,” a sardonic western saga to which Earle offers a bravura reading of the chorus: “the smell of the black powder smoke and the stand in the street at the turn of joke.” But in the end GUY leads the listener back to its beginning, namely Guy Clark, which is what any good “tribute” should do. GUY is a saga of friendship, its ups and downs, what endures. We are lucky that Earle remembers and honors these things, because like old friends, GUY is a diamond. TRACKLIST:  Side A -  Dublin Blues L.A. Freeway Texas 1947 Desperados Waiting For A Train Side B -  Rita Ballou The Ballad Of Laverne And Captain Flint The Randall Knife Anyhow I Love You Side C -  That Old Time Feeling Heartbroke The Last Gunfighter Ballad Out In The Parking Lot Side D -  She Ain’t Going Nowhere Sis Draper New Cut Road Old Friends