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all things illegal all weave together in this song, all elements that featured highly in his own life. By now political comment and hard hitting epic songs mixed with his older styles.

Devils Right Hand and Johnny Come Lately follow, both from the same album. The former is an old live favourite penned well before his first album saw the light of day and as such is basically one of his country numbers but here given a rock gloss, the steel pedal of his old life trading the limelight with the lead guitar of his new. Johnny Come Lately is a folk number, reportedly written specifically so as he could work with the Pogues with whom he had become good drinking buddies and toured with. The song features banjo, fiddle, whistle and accordion and reminds us of the links and similarities between the old world celtic sounds and the new world bluegrass tunes. Earle stands here with one foot in the waters of Galway bay and the other in the Appalachian Mountains and the result is a memorable and upbeat track.

Two tracks from The Hard Way round off proceedings. The Other Kind is an almost apologetic response to his families and friends concerns to his hard living of the time. Mandolins flicker behind the guitars and an understated power acts as a platform for Earle to pour out his heart.

I woke up this morning and I took a look around at all that I got
These days I've been lookin' in the mirror and wondering if that's me lookin' back or not
I'm still the apple of my mama's eye
I'm my daddy's worst fears realized
Here of late all this real estate don't seem all that real to me sometimes
I'm back out on that road again
Turn this beast into the wind
There are those that break and bend
I'm the other kind, I'm the other kind

Finally, Billy Austin is a dark tale of a man on Death Row, another heart felt ballad, part social outcry and part autobiographical. Earle is a story teller, some true, some analogy and some total fantasy but always delivered with a measured and calculated use of the words. This is really a story set to a guitar, no real verse and chorus structure, to beat just the rhythm of the words and the captivating tale being told.

This album covers Earle's tempestuous and glorious work over his first four albums, there are many more to check out since this album was put together but as an introduction to the man and his work, this is as good a place as any to start. Earle is all things to all men, he is country for those who don't like country, he is rock to those who don't like rock, all the time he is crossing the boundaries and mixing up the genres. Welcome to the Hardcore Troubadour, welcome to the man who burnt down Nashville and finally rose from its ashes.

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