Steve Earle
"So You Wannabe an Outlaw"
(Warner Bros. (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK){)
Steve Earle is such a skilled craftsman, such a savvy veteran song-maker, that even lesser efforts, like his 2015 all-blues excursion "Terraplane" and last year's collaboration with Shawn Colvin ("Colvin & Earle") are worth hearing. The Texas tunesmith hasn't really hit one in his sweet spot for quite some time, however, so "So You Wannabe an Outlaw" is most welcome. It's being hyped as his most country album in eons, which is true enough to a point but ultimately misleading. Despite the presence of Willie Nelson on the bona-fides-brandishing title cut, Johnny Bush on the swinging "Walking in L.A.," and a divorce duet with Miranda Lambert called "This Is How It Ends," "Outlaw" essentially works the same winning folk-to-rock-to-honky-tonk mishmash of American vernacular styles that has always animated Earle's work, albeit with a delivery that's grown gruffer over the years. That's true whether he's demonically rocking out on "Fixin' to Die" or paying tribute to his late mentor Guy Clark on "Goodbye Michelangelo" in this return to top form.
_Dan DeLuca
