Steve Earle Album: “Mountain”

When my brother called me and asked me to drive to Nashville to see Steve Earle & the Del McCoury Band in concert at the Station Inn, I had no idea what I was in for. I read many reviews of this CD and they were all very favorable, yet I had never heard any of the music. I sat there shell-shocked with a slack jawed expresion on my face that turned into the biggest ear-to-ear grin I've ever had on my face. The performance going on in front of me was something of legend. A tiny little hole-in-the-wall full of smoke and stale beer, came alive with music that truly elated my soul. I promptly ran out and bought this CD, along with several other Del McCoury Band CDs. Steve Earle and Del deserve Album of the Year from the Grammy organization for this ground breaking blend of roots bluegrass and raw rock and roll. One shining moment from the show that will always stick out in my mind was when Iris DeMent stood on stage with Steve & Del and literally stupefied the audience with her powerful voice. You will play this album for years to come.

Was never a real big "bluegrass" lover,although I do enjoy most all types of music;as long as it's good and well produced. I have been a big Steve Earle fan for more than a decade,and this c.d. The Mountain is not typical of his previous releases,but rates right up there with all the other great releases by Earle. I cannot sit and listen without stompin my feet or playing air guitar or air violin/mandolin/banjo and singing along with every tune of which there is no weak link.The production is superb and the crispness and clenliness of each note is unmatched to any other recording I've heard in a long long time.I highly recommend this c.d. to any music lover as it's a must for their collection.

A DJ on my local college radio station said that no one could be unhappy while listening to "Carrie Brown", and he was right! Combining bluegrass with strong songwriting and dynamic performances, this is one of the best albums of 1999. If you like Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, and such--give this album a try!

I was already familiar with bluegrass music when Steve recorded this album, but a lot of people who weren't also bought this album and most were pleasantly surprised at what they heard. To create an authentic bluegrass sound, Steve teamed up with the Del McCoury band, one of the finest bluegrass groups you're ever likely to hear. Steve wrote all the songs, declining the opportunity to include any covers of bluegrass standards. Given all the praise he gives Bill Monroe in the liner notes, it would have added a nice touch to hear him cover one of Bill's songs.

Steve covers a variety of topics on this album, delving into American history to find inspiration for such songs as Dixieland (about the civil war of the 1860's), Leroy's dustbowl blues (set in the 1930's) and Texas eagle (about a train that runs no more). As a contrast to all the songs inspired by history, the title track describes how a mountain is stripped of trees then mined for coal, leaving a trail of environmental devastation - truly a song for the times in which we live. Harlan man is another coalmining song.

There are love songs here too, including I'm still in love with you, a brilliant duet with the under-rated and under-recorded Iris DeMent. Another fine song is Carrie Brown, is about a jealous man who kills her lover and is sentenced to death for his crime. The album closes with the road song, Long lonesome highway blues, followed by the metaphorical road song, Pilgrim, which features a long guest list of harmony singers including Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Marty Stuart among others.

This is one of the most important albums in bluegrass history. Together with Dolly Parton's Grass is blue (also released in 1999), it helped bring bluegrass to a wider audience before the further boost provided by the O brother soundtrack. If you listen to this album, you'll understand why.

A truly great album.

There are four absolute classics here, songs and performances so great that it just gives you chills: "I'm Still In Love With You," "The Mountain," "Dixieland," and "Pilgrim," along with two very good instrumentals and a batch of other fine tunes.

Earle has said this was a work of inspiration, and it is a sustained inspritation at that. Like the best of Springsteen or Tom Waits, THE MOUNTAIN speaks of place and time without being a hokey concept album. The characters come from hard times and, like those on Springsteen's NEBRASKA, they sometimes fall--into dispair, drunkenness, jail.

But unlike NEBRASKA, where some characters seemed to find no way out, Earle's coal minors and irish immigrants see a light on the horizon. They find pride and honor in their hard work, in their civil war soldiering, in their lost loves.

The Del McCoury Band is rock solid, swingin' and singin' with a confidence you only find in a band that has played together for a thousand years. Iris Dement is perfect; her duet with Earle on "I'm Still In Love With You" is achingly sweet. Emmylou Harris appears here and there--I think there is some law that says Emmylou Harris must sing backup on every bluegrass record now--and a whole host of country singers join in the chorus of "Pilgrim."

But this is Steve Earle's record. I had a lot of trouble stomaching some of his earlier records, but THE MOUNTAIN is so good that I'm willing to rethink it all. Nobody could make a record this great unless they have true heart, true soul, and a true love for bluegrass, country, blues--American music in general.

This is, without a doubt, one of my absolute favorite records of the last 20 years.