Steve Earle - Guitar Town
Steve Earle's music is from another time, when country folks loved their union and hated their bank, when no one had any illusions about winning a million dollars and making it rich and the purpose of life was to stay afloat and help everyone around you in your town do the same thing. Though Earle has become the country star for people who don't like country since his work against the war and Bush, this record, his debut from 1986, is still highly regarded by the core country contingent, and with good reason. Essentially a roots record, Earle's music uses equal parts country and early rock, though the two have so much in common it's hard to tell what's coming from where (it's records like this that disprove the common assumption that r&b is rock 'n' roll's only daddy). Allmusic says that Earle toured off this record with both Dwight Yoakam and the Replacements, and I believe it. Guitar Town started a whole roots movement in Nashville, and it's easy to see why.