Jack and Barbara Earle gave birth to Stephen Fain Earle in Hampton, Virginia at Fort Monroe, January 17, 1955. At an early age, “Steve” Earle displayed a proficiency for music. He eventually met Townes Van Zandt, who became Earle’s role model and inspiration.
Earle eventually pursued his music career by moving to Nashville, working during the day and writing songs and also playing bass for Guy Clark’s band at night. Steve Earle’s songs got him a staff job writing for publisher Sunbury Dunbar.
Another publisher, Roy Dea and Pat Clark, signed Earle as a songwriter and this produced a song on the charts for Johnny Lee, “When You Fall in Love.”
This soon launched Steve Earle’s own career as a performer.
While being a protégé of Van Zandt, Earle is a master storyteller in his own right, with his songs being recorded by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, The Pretenders, Joan Baez and countless others. 1986 saw the release of his debut record, Guitar Town, which shot to number one of the country charts and immediately established the term “New Country.” What followed was an extremely exciting array of twelve releases including the biting hard rock of Copperhead Road (1988), the minimalist beauty of Train A Comin’ (1995), the politically charged masterpiece Jerusalem (2002) and the Grammy Award Winning albums The Revolution Starts…Now (2004) and Washington Square Serenade (2007). Earle also produced the Grammy nominated album, Day After Tomorrow, by the legendary Joan Baez in 2008. from the OFFICIAL STEVE EARLE WEBSITE
