482: Steve Earle — Guitar Town (1986, MCA)

Overall rating: 3

Level of Prior Familiarity: 1

How I Listened: Spotify, mostly on my phone speaker

I’m lucky to work at a record label that counts Steve Earle among its most illustrious alumni. While I can’t say I’ve ever been a giant fan of Earle’s, I respect the hell out of him. He was, after all, one of the artists who got me out of my “I like all music except country” mindset.

Guitar Town is about as perfect a record as Earle has made, if for no other reason than it’s full of pop songs. Hall and Oates could have sang some of these. They’re pretty, they’re honest, they’re catchy as hell, and they constantly remind us of the wonderful things about pop country music, wrapped up in a pseudo-outlaw attitude.

The album also came at a time when most of what passed for country was decidedly, well, cheeseball. And this album is, decidedly, not.

Side note: extra super bonus points for digital artwork scanned from the CD — this one even has the marketing labels still on it! Worth noting that this album was one of the first country albums to be recorded digitally, right here in Nashville.