His name is Earle: Singer serenades Washington Square
There are a lot of reasons why Steve Earle is excited to play his four-day set at Judson Memorial Church in the West Village this week, but you might be surprised what reason his gives first."It's going to be cool because I get to walk to work," he says.
The rootsy country singer, who is touring in support of his album "Washington Square Serenade," has really taken to the neighborhood he moved to three years ago. Besides paying tribute to it with his CD, he's planning to pay back some favors to some of the people in the Village with a few free tickets.
"I know more people in my neighborhood after living in the Village for three years then I did in Fairview, Tenn., in 20 years," he says. "It's just the way the city is. You're not hermetically sealed in a car. I know the butcher and the baker and the candlestick maker. I might be able to improve my waiting time on line at some of the restaurants downtown too, in the process of working this guest list."
The neighborhood is not just a place to live for Earle -- it's the connection to why he started playing music, he says. At the beginning of his career, it was a focal point of music, songs and liner notes of the records he was listening to. And the historical connection doesn't stop there for Earle.
"I literally live on the street that Bob Dylan is walking down on 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.' As a musician [who has] been a little left of center politically, I've sort of been living in a neighborhood that's rich in history for me," he says.
Earle may have a reverence for the past, but he's also pretty forward thinking with his music, enlisting John King, one of the Dust Brothers, to produce his album. That collaboration mixes Earle's gritty traditional sound with a modern twist, for what he says was "a very folky record" that was made by "hip-hop rules."
Earle is planning to do an album of Townes Van Zandt songs for his next release. The late Van Zandt was integral to Earle's career.
"I came from a school of songwriters that came to Nashville in from Texas," he says. "I came up under Van Zandt and Guy Clark and none of us were in Nashville because we thought we were going to be the next big commercial country songwriters. We were there because disco had taken hold of either coast."
Before Earle starts honoring his role model, he still has his four day show at Judson, and only one thing is left to figure out.
"There'll probably be some elaborate plans to get back home to keep fans from finding out exactly where I live," he says. "It's going to be fun."
Steve Earle is at Judson Memorial Church today through Friday. Time: 7 p.m. Tickets: $50 55 Washington Square S. 212-477-0351
comments