Critical Writings

Articles and Reviews: MUSIC

Washington Square Serenade by Steve Earle (New West)

Looking ahead to the New Year, Steve Earle is in with new wife Allison Moorer in support of his intriguingly eclectic new album Washington Square Serenade. It’s all change in Steve’s life, as he has also relocated to Greenwich Village, New York, from the Guitar Town of Nashville, a move reflected in opener ‘Tennessee Blues’. This is simultaneously Earle’s most adventurous and most laid back album in some time, after the no-nonsense rawness of Bush-baiters Jerusalem (2002) and The Revolution Starts...Now (2004). The variety can be felt on the folk rap of ‘Satellite Radio’, with its hip-hop beats, and the urban Tropicana of ‘City of Immigrants’, courtesy of Forro In The Dark’s traditional Brazilian rhythms. Needless to say, love songs to the new Ms. Earle are also present, in ‘Sparkle and Shine’ and ‘Days Aren’t Long Enough’, the latter a co-written duet with Moorer.

First published in Magill, December/January 2007/8