Steve Earle's 14th album is hardly a happy affair but it is a strong work from an Americana legend. Teaming with producer T, Bone Burnett, Earle brings us 11 songs of loss, pain and ultimately redemption. The opening "Waitin' on the Sky" and the country jam of "Little Emperor" get the album started with a bang and make it easy to overlook the darkness of the lyrics. It's not nearly to do so as the album goes on with a large majority of the songs being bare mid-tempo acoustic numbers that back Earle's stories of lives gone wrong. "I am a Wanderer," "The Lonely are Free" and "Every Part of Me" are all tales of isolation and loneliness. The Earle and Allison Moorer (Earle's Wife) duet, "Heaven or Hell," is technically a love song but I don't foresee it being played at too many weddings. Hope is present on the closing horn accentuated "This City" -- originally recorded for the excellent HBO show Treme) -- and it's tribute to the human spirit is a fine way to close the album. As usual with his productions, Burnett brings a lot of reverb, echo and and a empty sound to the production. Usually I'm a big fan of this style but aside from the murder ballad "Molly-O" and the minimalist blues of "Meet Me in the Alleyway," it doesn't always fit Earle's songs as well as the numerous other great artists Burnett has worked with. It's a pretty minor drawback but a drawback nonetheless. Obviously picking out minor production quarrels is a sign of a strong peice of work and I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive" is another fine Steve Earle album in a career full of them. Just don't play it at party's.
Rating: 4
Track Listing:
1. "Waitin' on the Sky" (3:29)
2. "Little Emperor" (2:58)
3. "The Gulf of Mexico" (4:15)
4. "Molly-O" (3:21)
5. "God is God" (4:00)
6. "Meet Me in the Alleyway" (4:26)
7. "Every Part of Me" (2:51)
8. "Lonely are the Free" (3:21)
9. "Heaven of Hell" (3:26)
10. "I am a Wanderer" (2:53)
11. "This City" (2:45)
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