Steve Earle and The Dukes on Wednesday evening played a venue that I hadn’t been to- Jergels Rhythm Grille in Warrendale, Pa [located north of Pittsburgh} This I believe was my 27th Steve Earle concert {Bob Dylan comes in second with 7} My friend Gunther went with me to the show. I didn’t know what this venue would be like- and when we walked in I immediately liked what I saw. It was two hours before the show and everyone who paid a little extra to get in at 5pm instead of our 6pm- had taken the seats/tables and bar seats that were off to the side. Right down the middle of the place was an open floor and there was one fella standing up there by the stage. With no where to sit- we decided if we had to stand me may as well be front and center- right against the stage. {This would turn out to be the closest I’ve been to the action at a concert since 1982 when Elvis Costello spit on me [accidents will happen} while he was singing.}

At 8pm the opening act- the husband and wife duo- The Masterson’s came out and played for a half hour. Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore have been Steve’s opening act for well over a decade and are also a major part of his band The Dukes. They have three albums out- their most recent coming out in 2017. I am a fan. They played songs from their latest album- six songs as I recall- a half hour. I am not generally a big fan of opening acts but I do like hearing The Mastersons.

This is the 30th Anniversary Tour of Copperhead Road. I have only been to two concerts where this has been done- last summer seeing U2 perform their album The Joshua Tree a couple times. Copperhead Road was a great album- and one of my favorite Steve albums so I was excited about this. They came out at 9pm and played the album as the songs appear on the album and it was fantastic. You can always count on three songs being played at a Steve Earle concert- Guitar Town, Copperhead Road and since it came out in 2001 The Galway Girl.  As Steve noted after Johnny Comes Lately- ‘this is the point where side 1 ends and we go into side 2″ 30 years ago it was vinyl albums but mostly cassettes- it was right at the cusp of the CD era. Side 1 as Steve said was the political side- side 2 the chick songs. There are ten songs on Copperhead Road- and a number of these songs haven’t been played live for years- or even decades.

In introducing The Masterson’s when they opened Steve said that he thinks this version of The Dukes is the best band he’s had on tour and it is hard to argue with that.

THE DUKES ARE- CHRIS MASTERSON, ELEANOR WHITMORE, KELLY LOONEY, RICKY RAY JACKSON AND BRAD PEMBERTON.

After playing the Copperhead Road in its entirety they went into the first three songs on his latest album- last years So You Wanna Be An Outlaw–after that a mixture of favorites though past albums- Guitar Town and The Galway Girl of course among them. Steve always does at least one cover and tonight that was Hey Joe- made famous by Jimi Hendrix.

When he came back out for the encore- he talked about his future plans- he has a new album coming out in March- an album of Guy Clark covers- Clark was one of his mentors- Steve said that since he did an album of Townes Van Zandt songs [another mentor} that he didn’t want to have to meet Guy later on and have to answer as to why he did a Townes album and not one of his songs. Steve also spoke of a political album to be released in 2020 and work he has been doing with a few others on a play dealing with the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia in 2010. He said he had 5 songs for that- and played one new one based on the John Henry legend and then followed it up with a song from the album he did with Del McCoury- The Mountain.

The last time I saw Steve was last summer and I remarked to my wife after the show that Steve seemed kind of sad- there was a lot of talk that night of the passing of Guy Clark and several other of his other artist friends- and of the end of his marriage. He seemed in a lot better mood tonight. I can’t say this was the best Steve Earle concert I’ve been to- I have never been to one I didn’t really like- but this would rank in the Top 5.

The pictures I have posted were taken by Gunther. He had his phone out all night and since we were so close to Steve I feared Steve would snap at him [he gave him several ‘looks”} especially when Gunther was texting. I know how many artists are annoyed by the phones – I kept mine in my pocket. Steve is not one to suffer fools {when he was talking at the start of the encore- someone yelled out something and Steve told him to ‘shut up I’m talking.”

SET LIST

• COPPERHEAD ROAD
• SNAKE OIL
• BACK TO THE WALL
• THE DEVIL’S RIGHT HAND
• JOHNNY COME LATELY
• EVEN WHEN I’M BLUE
• YOU BELONG TO ME
• WAITING ON YOU
• ONCE YOU LOVE
• NOTHING BUT A CHILD
• SO YOU WANNA BE AN OUTLAW
• LOOKING FOR A WOMAN
• THE FIREBREAK LINE
• MY OLD FRIEND THE BLUES
• SOMEDAY
• GUITAR TOWN
• I’M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU
• THE GALWAY GIRL
• A WEEK OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
• FIXING TO DIE
• HEY JOE

ENCORE

•    JOHN HENRY [ A NEW STEVE ORIGINAL FOR AN UPCOMING PLAY]
• THE MOUNTAIN
• BEN MCCULLOUCH
• GIRL ON THE MOUNTAIN