Washington Square Serenade
Steve Earle
Forro In The Dark, Allison Moorer
Engineer: Noah Goldstein, Tom Camuso, Josh Wilbur,
Producer: John King
New West Records, 2007
1 CD
Catalogue #: NW6128
EAN: 0607396612826
UPC: 607396612826
You save: 20%
Personnel include: Steve Earle (banjo); John Medeski (electric piano); Jeremy Chatzky (acoustic bass); John Spiker (electric bass); Marty Beller (drums); Petey, Charlie Stavish, The Downtown Proletariat Choir, Noah Goldstein, Lee Foster, Paul Bannister, Collin Hart, John King, Patrick Earle, Josh Wilbur (background vocals).
Additional personnel: Allison Moorer (vocals); Smokey Hormel (baritone guitar); Jorge Continentino (bamboo flute); Davi Viera (triangle); John Refosco (unknown instrument); Forro In The Dark.
Recording information: Electric Lady Studios, New York, New York.
Alt-country king Steve Earle documents some major life changes on WASHINGTON SQUARE SERENADE. In the time between this album and its 2004 predecessor, Earle married singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, and the Texas-bred Nashville rebel moved to New York's Greenwich Village (hence the album title). These alterations are represented by the songs here, including odes to Earle's new home town and love ballads presumably written for Moorer.
The album marks a turning point on the sonic level as well. Earle, who says Moorer likened his usual old-school production techniques to civil war re-enactments, enlisted L.A.'s Dust Brothers (of Beastie Boys and Beck fame) to help update his methods. While SERENADE is far from hip-hop, there are some subtle electronic touches amid the rampant rootsiness, and there's more cut-and-paste cerebralism than garage-rock gusto to the arrangements. It all adds up to one small step for Earle, and if not one giant leap for 21st-century Americana, then certainly a lengthy stride.
Tracklist
Steve Earle
Steve Earle did for country in the 1980s what Waylon Jennings did for it in the '70s--released it from the shackles of commerciality and overproduction by introducing a bad-ass, rock-friendly outlaw aesthetic. Besides his talents as a singer/songwriter, Earle is a producer/entrepreneur who's worked with many other artists (some on his own label) and helped foster a new wave of progressive country. He's also a dedicated political activist who's done much for a variety of progressive causes.
