Copperhead Road
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| Copperhead Road | |||||
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| Studio album by Steve Earle | |||||
| Released | 1988 | ||||
| Genre | Country, Country rock | ||||
| Length | 43:36 | ||||
| Label | MCA | ||||
| Producer | Tony Brown | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Steve Earle chronology | |||||
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Copperhead Road is an American country music/country rock album released in 1988 by Steve Earle.
The title song "Copperhead Road" (an actual location in Mountain City, Tennessee) tells of a Vietnam War veteran, scion of a rural moonshine bootlegging clan, who returns home to grow marijuana on his family's land (the song also inspired a popular line dance timed to the beat of the song). "Johnny Come Lately" (performed with The Pogues) compares the experience of US servicemen fighting in World War II with those in the Vietnam war, and contrasts the differing receptions they received on returning home.
Many of the album's songs reflect Earle's politics: the title track attacks the War on Drugs[citation needed], and the song "Snake Oil" compares then president Ronald Reagan to a traveling con man. "Back to the Wall" is about poverty, and "The Devil's Right Hand" can be read as how firearms are a tool for destruction. Unlike some issues-oriented musicians, however, Earle doesn't limit himself to political material, but also includes apolitical works such as the love song "Even When I'm Blue" and the religious piece "Nothing but a Child".
More recently Shawn Mullins, a fond admirer and songwriter, has been playing "Copperhead Road".
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[edit] References to other songs
The song "Copperhead Road" contains subtle references to "The Ballad of Thunder Road", another song about moonshine running. The second verse talks about the sheriff informing the boy's mother of his dad's (implied) death while "headin' down to Knoxville with the weekly load" (in "Thunder Road", the bootlegger ran off Kingston Pike outside Bearden, a community in Knoxville).
The movie Thunder Road (1962) featured Robert Mitchum as a Tennessee moonshiner.
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Steve Earle unless otherwise noted
- "Copperhead Road"
- "Snake Oil"
- "Back To The Wall"
- "The Devil's Right Hand"
- "Johnny Come Lately"
- "Even When I'm Blue"
- "You Belong To Me"
- "Waiting On You" (Earle, Richard Bennett)
- "Once You Love" (Earle, Larry Crane)
- "Nothing But A Child"
[edit] Personnel:
- Steve Earle: vocals, guitars, harmonica, 6-string bass, mandolin
- Donny Roberts: guitars, 6-string bass
- Bill Lloyd: acoustic guitar, 12-string electric guitar
- Bucky Baxter: pedal steel, lap steel, dobro
- Ken Moore: synthesizer and organ
- John Jarvis: piano
- Kelly Looney: bass
- Kurt Custer: drums
- Neil MacColl: mandolin on "Johnny Come Lately"
- John Cowan, Maria McKee, Radney Foster: background vocals
- The Pogues played on "Johnny Come Lately"
- Telluride played on "Nothing But A Child"
The Pogues:
- Terry Woods: citern
- Phil Chevron: guitar, vocals
- Jem Finer: banjo
- James Fearnley: accordion
- Spider Stacy: tin whistle, vocals
- Shane McGowan: banjo, bodhran
- Darryl Hunt: bass
- Andrew Ranken: drums
Telluride:
- Sam Bush: mandolin
- Jerry Douglas: dobro
- Mark O'Connor: violin
- Edgar Meyer: bass violin
[edit] References
- Rock 'n' roll rebel or country crusader? December 3, 1987, Hamilton Spectator - (Earle explains theme of Copperhead Road).
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