“You’re the Best Lover that I Ever Had” heralds a gritty, lifetime-in-the-making new blues recording from Steve Earle, principally composed on a backpack tour through Europe but very much linked to his Texas roots.
Appearing with his long-time backing group the Dukes, Earle attacks this tale of desperate need with all of dark salaciousness of Lone Star heroes like Johnny Winter, adding his own distinctive compositional twists along the way. Elsewhere, Terraplane (due February 17, 2015 via New West Records) brings in musical influences as disparate as Freddie King and Lightnin’ Hopkins, all with that soul-rending narrative voice as its centerpoint.
Steve Earle sounds like he was born to the blues, even if he’s just now turning his focus there. Of course, he has always written with a roiling specificity, with as much emotion as he does particular wit, and “You’re the Best Lover that I Ever Had” — with its atmosphere of hopeful resignation — certainly follows suit. Kelly Looney, Chris Masterson, Will Rigby and Eleanor Rigby fill out the blanks with a soundscape surrounded by twilit insistence.
Terraplane, named after a 1930s-era Hudson car that also inspired Robert Johnson, was produced by R.S. Field — who has previously worked with Buddy Guy and John Mayall. Steve Earle recorded it at Studio D in Nashville’s House of Blues. A deluxe version of Terraplane will also include three acoustic songs filmed on the studio’s porch, among other special items.
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