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Steve Earle|The Hard Way

The Hard Way

Steve Earle

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"I defend The Hard Way to the death, because I almost died in the process of making it," Steve Earle told a reporter in 2000, and he wasn't just being melodramatic. Earle's well-documented addiction to heroin and cocaine was spiraling out of control in 1990 while he was holed up in Memphis recording The Hard Way. And while his 1988 album Copperhead Road showed him moving away from country and more toward hard rock -- and earned him a minor crossover hit in the process -- his record label was hoping for a major commercial breakthrough so that his sales might begin to match his good press. The resulting album is a bit of a mess, often sloppy and overbearing, where his country sides had been dynamic and precise, and Earle's voice was starting to show the strain of his lifestyle. Even his songwriting, usually peerless, wasn't at its best here, with "When the People Find Out," "Regular Guy," and "Justice in Ontario" sounding like they were tossed together fast to round out the album (the latter sounds like a transparent stroke to his Canadian fan base, where Copperhead Road went multi-platinum). But even his weakest studio album has plenty to recommend it, the all-too-biographical "Have Mercy" and "West Nashville Boogie," and "Billy Austin," a deeply moving ballad about a man on death row. The Hard Way isn't much of an album by Earle's standards, but it's still got enough heart, soul, and fire to prove Earle couldn't throw away his talent, no matter how hard he tried.

© Mark Deming /TiVo

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The Hard Way

Steve Earle

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1
The Other Kind
00:05:09

Joe Hardy, Producer, Mixer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Mark Coddington, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

2
Promise You Anything
00:02:43

Joe Hardy, Producer - Maria McKee, ComposerLyricist - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist - Patrick Sugg, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

3
Esmeralda's Hollywood
00:06:01

Joe Hardy, Producer - Maria McKee, ComposerLyricist - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

4
Hopeless Romantics
00:02:44

Joe Hardy, Producer - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

5
This Highway's Mine (Roadmaster)
00:03:54

Joe Hardy, Producer - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

6
Billy Austin
00:06:16

Joe Hardy, Producer, Mixer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Mark Coddington, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

7
Justice In Ontario
00:04:47

Joe Hardy, Producer, Mixer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Mark Coddington, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

8
Have Mercy
00:04:40

Joe Hardy, Producer - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

9
When The People Find Out
00:04:11

Joe Hardy, Producer - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

10
Country Girl
00:04:11

Joe Hardy, Producer - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

11
Regular Guy
00:03:17

Joe Hardy, Producer - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

12
West Nashville Boogie
00:03:09

Joe Hardy, Producer - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

13
Close Your Eyes
00:04:45

Joe Hardy, Producer - Steve Earle, Producer, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - The Dukes, MainArtist

℗ 1990 Geffen Records

Album review

"I defend The Hard Way to the death, because I almost died in the process of making it," Steve Earle told a reporter in 2000, and he wasn't just being melodramatic. Earle's well-documented addiction to heroin and cocaine was spiraling out of control in 1990 while he was holed up in Memphis recording The Hard Way. And while his 1988 album Copperhead Road showed him moving away from country and more toward hard rock -- and earned him a minor crossover hit in the process -- his record label was hoping for a major commercial breakthrough so that his sales might begin to match his good press. The resulting album is a bit of a mess, often sloppy and overbearing, where his country sides had been dynamic and precise, and Earle's voice was starting to show the strain of his lifestyle. Even his songwriting, usually peerless, wasn't at its best here, with "When the People Find Out," "Regular Guy," and "Justice in Ontario" sounding like they were tossed together fast to round out the album (the latter sounds like a transparent stroke to his Canadian fan base, where Copperhead Road went multi-platinum). But even his weakest studio album has plenty to recommend it, the all-too-biographical "Have Mercy" and "West Nashville Boogie," and "Billy Austin," a deeply moving ballad about a man on death row. The Hard Way isn't much of an album by Earle's standards, but it's still got enough heart, soul, and fire to prove Earle couldn't throw away his talent, no matter how hard he tried.

© Mark Deming /TiVo

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