Tag: Kelley Looney

Steve Earle’s “Ghosts of West Virgina” (album review)

Steve Earle Ghosts

Steve Earle’s latest album Ghosts of West Virginia features music that mostly came out of a play about a mine explosion that killed 29 miners in April 2010. The play was starting a successful run in New York until the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down. But fortunately we have Earle’s music in one of his strongest recent albums.

Earle’s previous album that is most similar to Ghosts of West Virginia is his 1999 bluegrass album The Mountain. Like that album, Ghosts of West Virginia avoids some of the rock sound that appears on many of Earle’s other albums.

For the most part, one might never guess that the album originated out of a play. Although the first song on the album, “Heaven Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” is reminiscent of a typical opening chorus for a play, the rest of the album stands on its own with strong songs and performances, such as for one of my favorite songs on the album,”The Mine.”

Earle began working on the album after Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen contacted him about a play they were working on about the Upper Big Branch mine disaster called Coal Country. In making the album, Earle traveled to West Virginia with Blank and Jensen to interview survivors of the explosion for further inspiration.

Earle, a liberal activist, has asserted that in making the album he wanted to try to find some common ground with people who might disagree with him politically. For this album, he explained he wanted to create  “a record that speaks to and for people who didn’t vote the way I did.”

For Earle, though, using his art to explore other personalities and other views is nothing new. It is what an artist does. Earlier Steve Earle songs have humanized murderers (“Billy Austin”), death row prison guards (“Ellis Unit One”), outlaws (“Tom Ames’ Prayer”), and real-life American-turned enemy combatant John Walker Lindh (“John Walker’s Blues”). Although the Lindh song earned Earle some scorn in some corners, it is doubtful that anyone on either side of the political divide will find much argument with the humanity of Ghosts of West Virginia.

Earle also has a history of generosity in giving space to other artists even if those artists may upstage him. For example, on his 1996 album, Earle sang a duet with Lucinda Williams on the final song, “You’re Still Standing There,” and it was only the strength of an amazing album that kept Williams from stealing the show. And on his 2003 live album Just An American Boy, Earle gave his son and emerging artist Justin Townes Earle the final spot with the son’s song, “Time You Waste,” announcing the arrival of a great talent.

Here, on Ghosts of West Virginia, Earle does something similar, giving “If I Could See Your Face Again” — a standout song from the point of view of a miner’s widow — to Eleanor Whitmore of The Mastersons. Whitmore’s performance and the aching song breaks your heart (perhaps the added emotion comes from the fact that the Steve Earle & The Dukes album is the first since Earle lost his bassist and band member of 30 years, Kelley Looney).

If there is any weakness to this Steve Earle album, it is the short runtime. Coming in at slightly less than thirty minutes, one wishes Earle could have added more music. By the time you become immersed n the world of this West Virginia mining disaster, the album ends. On the other hand, it is not such a bad thing that an album leaves the listener wanting more.

What do you think of Ghosts of West Virginia? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Why “GUY”? (Steve Earle album review)
  • Steve Earle Looks Back on “Copperhead Road”
  • Steve Earle & The Dukes Are Back: “So You Wannabe An Outlaw”
  • Steve Earle Takes On Confederate Flag in “Mississippi, It’s Time”
  • Nanci Griffith’s Superstars on Letterman: “Desperados Waiting for a Train”
  • I woke up this morning, and none of the news was good: Steve Earle’s “Jerusalem” (Song of the Day)
    • ( Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Buy from Amazon

    Matthew Ryan Finds Beauty Within Our National Affliction: “On Our Death Day”

    Matthew Ryan On Our Death Day

    Matthew Ryan has released a new single, “On Our Death Day.” The song, in the form of a “maxi-single,” arrives now without an album because Ryan felt an urgency to release it. It’s a song about our national moment, timely yet timeless, trying to find some sanity and hope in spite of what is coming out of Washington.

    In October 2016, Ryan put music to the pre-election mood with his instrumental album, Current Events. Part of the purpose of that album was to create a soundtrack for information overload and the troubles of the times. With these new singles, he wrestles with the the post-election situation through his lyrics.

    On Our Death Day

    Although “On Our Death Day” comes out of our current political moment, the song is not political in the sense of a call to arms or of being in the voice of an activist. Instead, the singer asks timeless questions. The voice comes from someone troubled by our world. And the person could be someone who voted for our current president, or not.

    The singer asks these questions of someone named Mary. The context leads one to imagine the conversation taking place between a man and his beloved. Perhaps they are an older couple in Ryan’s home state of Pennsylvania. Maybe they are farmers in the Midwest, or they could be anywhere in the country. (Or one could find the singer’s appeal going to a more spiritual place in light of the woman’s name.)

    There are no accusations here, and Ryan has called “On Our Death Day” a love song. The opening verse ponders how we got to this moment in our lives. The singer understands the unhappiness that brought the current occupant to the White House. When those in the city and in the country are hurting, they look for answers: “You’ll start looking where you hurt.”

    There is understanding, not blame, for those who opened the door. But it is clear who is the target of the second verse.

    There’s a vulture with his head down,

    The captain’s butchering Gunga Din;

    He calls for darkness and darkness comes;

    Our fellow slaves invite it in.

    Yet this darkness, this person, this situation, is not really as new to the world as one might think. This same darkness is “in every book ever written.”

    It would be easy to find despair in this darkness. But the singer reassures us that when all hope is gone, “all that’s left is hope.” In the chorus, he asks Mary if it is too late or if they will still have each other. Maybe it is love that gets us through. “Will you be standing / Under a black and silver sky / By my side, / By the graves,/ On our death day?

    The song’s title referring to “our death day” may lead one to expect a dark song. But Ryan explained to Chimesfreedom that “a death can also be the end of an idea.” In fact, he explained, the song is looking for “context and redemption, and above all, a way out.”

    It is not surprising that Ryan feels a special connection to this song. Many artists have avoided the challenge of the current political situation, perhaps hoping for additional clarity with more time. Some, like Son Volt, have released an album trying to sort through current events. Others have found mostly rage. With the new single, Ryan felt compelled to dig deeper, seeking his way around to find hope and love as ways to lead all of us out of this mess.

    And It’s Such a Drag

    For the B-side to “On Our Death Day” Ryan reworked his song “And It’s Such a Drag.” The song originally appeared in a quieter form on his album In the Dusk of Everything (2012). On the new amped-up version, Ryan is joined by Doug Lancio (guitar), Aaron “The A-Train” Smith (drums), and Kelley Looney (bass). This group provides great energy to the song. We hope there might be an album with this lineup in the future.

    Ryan explained that he included “And It’s Such a Drag” with “On Our Death Day” because the B-side is about “an intimate confrontation with a narcissist.” One should be troubled by how a song originally written about a broken relationship can work so well as a commentary on our president.

    But it is the perfect B-side for “On Our Death Day.” While the A-side is about quiet redemption, the B-side’s rock sound lets out a little anger. Sometimes you need to vent before you can get around to peace and understanding.

    In this context, I imagine “And It’s Such a Drag” being in the voice of a disillusioned Trump supporter, or really any American voter: “Who loves you/ More than me/ Who gave you/ All that he had.” Then, the realization that this president (lover) does not care: “And you talk about me/ Like I was just another one of your deals.” The more I listen to this song, the more I think it is about this moment right now, even though Ryan wrote it years ago. Crank it up loud.

    A Leonard Cohen Cover Bonus Track

    Finally, the digital version of Ryan’s “maxi-single” release includes a bonus song. Ryan covers Leonard Cohen’s song “Steer Your Way.” The tune originally appeared on Cohen’s haunting final album recorded while he was in declining health, You Want it Darker (2016). Ryan had recorded the song for a Cohen-tribute vinyl album after the 2016 election, Like a Drunk In A Midnight Choir. It is a nice addition here as a bonus track.


    Cohen’s song, in the voice of one nearing the end of life, coaxes us to review our own choices and our lives. The singer advises, “Steer your heart past the Truth you believed in yesterday.” Again, I find in this song Ryan’s compassion for people who are open to growth and to changing their minds.

    Ryan has disclosed that Cohen’s song helped steer him back toward hope. He adds that the lyrics to “Steer Your Way” say “so clearly what needs to be said right now.”

    In releasing these three recordings together now, Ryan explained, “Each of us should do what we can to offer intelligence and beauty and conscience in contrast to this stormy weather.” With beauty, grace, contemplation, compassion, and poetry, Ryan has lived up to his end of the bargain.

    Of course, those are just my impressions of the songs. You may find something different in them. To purchase “On Our Death Day” on vinyl with “And It’s Such a Drag” or as a digital maxi-single with the bonus Leonard Cohen song, head over to Matthew Ryan’s website or his Bandcamp page.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Why “GUY”? (Steve Earle album review)

    Steve Earle has released a wonderful tribute to one of his mentors, Guy Clark, with his album GUY. Yet, the album is a bit of a surprise. Earle has long been outspoken on important issues, incorporating political messages into many of his songs. So, one may wonder why, during a crazy period of American political history, Earle’s new music is largely silent on the issues of the day. The question about why Earle is doing this album at this time is further complicated by the fact that there is already an outstanding multi-artist tribute to Clark. So, why GUY?

    During the George W. Bush administration, Earle released the album Just an American Boy (2003), along with a documentary by the same name. The album featured songs criticizing the war, and Earle provoked controversy with his song humanizing “enemy combatant” John Walker Lindh (“John Walker’s Blues”). When Bill Clinton was in the White House, Earle called for Woody Guthrie and other activists to “come back” in “Christmas in Washington.” When Barack Obama was president, Earle sang about a “City of Immigrants.” Going back to the beginning of his career, Earle was never afraid to take on important issues, recording several songs about capital punishment.

    But now, as the current occupant sits in the White House, Steve Earle gives us a tribute album for his friend? Really?

    What “GUY” Is

    Let’s start with the fact that GUY is one of Earle’s best albums in recent years, perhaps since 2004’s The Revolution Starts Now. As a starting point, Guy Clark was one of the great American songwriters, so Earle had a great group of songs from which to choose.

    And Earle and the Dukes sound great. Earle and the Dukes, for the most part, do not change a lot in their interpretations of the songs. There are a few exceptions, like a more rocking version of “Out in the Parking Lot.” While Earle does not radically rework “Dublin Blues,” Earle and the band highlight the boasts in the song (“I’ll stand up and be counted”). While Clark’s voice emphasized the sadness in the lyrics.

    Throughout the album, the Dukes give new energy to the songs, and the band’s work is a large reason to get this album. The Dukes include Kelley Looney (bass), Ricky Ray Jackson (pedal steel guitar), Eleanor Whitmore (fiddle and mandolin), Chris Masterson (guitar), and Brad Pemberton (drums).

    And the world can always use another version of “L.A. Freeway.” It is one of the best songs ever written about leaving somewhere.

    GUY is a personal album for Earle. Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt were two important mentors to Earle. Earle has jokingly explained that the reason he made GUY was that he had already created a tribute album of Van Zandt’s songs, Townes(2009). So, he feared meeting Clark in the afterlife and having to explain why he made an album for Van Zandt but not for Clark.

    It is a funny story, but perhaps there is a sense of obligation that helps explain why Earle made GUY. And it gives Earle a reason to gather together friends like Rodney Crowell, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Emmylou Harris to sing Clark’s song, “Old Friends.”

    So Come Back Steve Earle, Come Back To Us Now

    So, why GUY? Well, Earle crafted a beautiful album of wonderful songs played with energy by the Dukes. And even in troubled times, we need to affirm personal values and our own lives and bonds. Like Earle, who recently saw the ending of his marriage to singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, all of us must trudge on with our own real lives.

    So, singing songs about friends, fathers (“Randall Knife”), broken hearts (“Dublin Blues”), old men (“Desperados Waiting for a Train”), and other personal connections is needed in troubled times, perhaps even more than other times. We need to remember our departed friends, as Earle is remembering Guy Clark. We all need sanctuary from the evening news and our lives.

    So if you do not have this album, which is one of Earle’s best, get it. He will get around to the political message songs. Earle says he has already been working on such a political album. He plans to release it in time for the 2020 election.

    What is your favorite Steve Earle song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Tribute to Guy Clark CD is “Stuff That Works”
  • Nanci Griffith’s Superstars on Letterman: “Desperados Waiting for a Train”
  • Steve Earle’s “Ghosts of West Virgina” (album review)
  • Steve Earle: “Dublin Blues”
  • The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris
  • New Documentary About Guy Clark
    • ( Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)


    Buy from Amazon