Connie Smith recorded Earle's composition " A Far Cry from You" in 1985 which reached a minor position on the country charts as well. Later Dea and Carter created an independent record label called LSI and invited Earle to begin recording his own material on their label. Carl Perkins recorded Earle's song "Mustang Wine", and two of his songs were recorded by Zella Lehr. A song he co-wrote, "When You Fall in Love", was recorded by Johnny Lee and made number 14 on the country charts in 1982.
In the 1980s, Earle returned to Nashville once again and worked as a songwriter for the publishers Roy Dea and Pat Carter. Įarle performing in 2007 at the Midlands Music Festival in Westmeath, Ireland Later Earle grew tired of Nashville and returned to Texas where he started a band called The Dukes. Earle lived in Nashville for several years and assumed the position of staff songwriter at the publishing company Sunbury Dunbar. Earle appeared in the 1976 film Heartworn Highways, a documentary on the Nashville music scene which included David Allan Coe, Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt and Rodney Crowell. During this period Earle wrote songs and played bass guitar in Guy Clark's band and sang on Clark's 1975 album Old No. 1. In 1974, at the age of 19, Earle moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and began working blue-collar jobs during the day and playing music at night.
Earle also noted that when he was a young man, his girlfriend was able to get an abortion despite the fact that abortion was illegal as her father was a doctor at the local hospital in San Antonio while several other girls he knew at the time were not able to get abortions as they lacked access to those with the necessary power to arrange an abortion, which he credits as the origin of his pro-choice views. I was fucking going." The end of the Selective Service Act and the draft lottery in 1973 prevented him from being drafted, but several of his friends were drafted, which he credits as the origin of his politicization. I didn't finish high school, so I wasn't a candidate for a student deferment. Earle was opposed to the Vietnam war as he recalled in 2012: "The anti-war movement was a very personal thing for me. While in Houston, Earle finally met Van Zandt. He moved to Houston with his 19-year-old uncle, also a musician. Earle was "rebellious" as a young man and dropped out of school at the age of 16. He ran away from home at age 14 to search for his idol, singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Įarle began learning the guitar at the age of 11 and entered a school talent contest at age 13. The family returned to Texas before Earle's second birthday, and he grew up primarily in the San Antonio area. He has appeared in film and television, and has written a novel, a play, and a book of short stories.Įarle is the father of late singer-songwriter and frequent collaborator Justin Townes Earle.Įarle was born in Fort Monroe, Virginia, where his father was stationed as an air traffic controller. His songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Levon Helm, The Highwaymen, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Shawn Colvin, Bob Seger, Percy Sledge and Emmylou Harris. " Copperhead Road", released in 1988, is his best selling single, having peaked on its initial release at number 10 on the Mainstream Rock chart, and had a 21st century resurgence, having reached number 15 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, buoyed by vigorous online sales. Since then Earle has released 20 more studio albums and received three Grammy awards, all for Best Contemporary Folk Album he has four additional nominations in the same category. His breakthrough album was the 1986 debut album Guitar Town, the eponymous lead single peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot Country chart. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Stephen Fain Earle ( / ɜːr l/) (born January 17, 1955) is an American rock, country and folk singer-songwriter, record producer, author and actor.