Steve Earle In Quotes

Drug addictions, jail time, failed marriages, controversial political stances, quick-witted good ol’ boy viewpoints…sounds like a good mini-series, doesn’t it? One day it just might be, but until then, much of it can be found in Steve Earle In Quotes. Compiled by Joanna Serraris, this 72-page labor of love breezily strings together comments the acclaimed country rocker has made to the media and in concert throughout his turbulent career. Concentrating on his recovery years (1995 on), In Quotes delivers declarations that are sometimes poignant (“I might have been a better example to my son if I had died,” he said on TV’s “Politically Incorrect”), sometimes hysterical (“They grow rednecks hydroponically around there and ship ’em to wherever there’s a shortage,” he once said of Navasota, Texas). As Earle told Musician in 1995, “I probably do edit myself, but not enough to keep me out of trouble.” Thank God that is the case, because it’s precisely such brutal honestly that makes the him so extraordinary both in persona and with the uncompromising American music he creates. And it’s precisely the mindset, coupled with the wealth of material that is Earle’s own history, that makes Steve Earle In Quotes such a rewarding read.