All Hail The New Man In Black

The Age

Friday December 2, 2005

Patrick Donovan

MUSIC REVIEW: STEVE EARLE AND THE DUKES; The Corner Hotel, November 30

"Yeah, the revolution starts now, in your own backyard, in your own home town."

Think global, act local, was Steve Earle's clear message on Wednesday night as he opened his show with his song The Revolution Starts Now and covered the Beatles' Revolution.

It was a sentiment we have heard before, from Dylan, Neil Young, the MC-5, Tracy Chapman and Public Enemy.

But the revolution never came. Music didn't change the world. How can Earle start a revolution, right here, right now, in a bar that has just banned smoking and refuses double shots, for chrissakes?

Like Willie Nelson, Earle has his own instantly recognisable sound, defined by his caramel-rich southern drawl, harmonica playing and the Duke's ragged country rock and bluegrass. Dressed in black (presumably for "the poor and the beaten down"), the 49-year-old Texan looked like a country version of "the human pitbull", Henry Rollins. He was supported by his wife, country singer Allison Moorer, who joined him for one of the night's highlights, the anti-war song Conspiracy Theory.

It was the last in his 137-gig, year-long tour, and his third in Melbourne - and he looked a little weary for it. The two-hour set of outlaw country songs spiked and sympathised, and included gems such as My Old Friend the Blues. He included the reggae song Condi, his one hit, Copperhead Road, the Celtic-sounding Galway Girl and the Rolling Stones' country classic, Sweet Virginia, before ending with Billy Austin - a song about being on death row. Earle has long campaigned against capital punishment, and he told the crowd to "Pat yourself on the back for not having the death penalty", but complained that the campaign to keep Nguyen Tuong alive came too late.

There was no revolution, but plenty of compassion as he urged people to light a candle in Tuong's memory.

Steve Earle has been hailed as "the new Johnny Cash", standing up for "the ones who are held back". As a country performer, he is all that Russell Crowe isn't. He is writing albums that Bruce Springsteen should be doing. His songs make Mick Jagger's recent pathetic attempt at dissent laughable.

Until things are brighter, all hail the new man in black.