Steve Earle Transcendental Blues (E-Squared/Artemis Records, 2000)
review by Micah Holmquist
June 9, 2000

"In the darkest hour of the longest night" are the first words that we hear from Steve Earle on Transcendental Blues. Nothing could be more appropriate because this release, like the bulk of Earle’s work, is about life on the edge. Drug addiction, prison, street crime, and the beaten back working class are not just topics for an occasional song or two from Earle. Rather they are part of everything that he does: from songs that specifically address these topics to romantic ballads where they are the unstated context. In short, Earle sings about the people that we all know but who don’t show up on television screens.

In some ways Transcendental Blues is predictable. There are a couple of songs about the death penalty —which Earle passionately opposes in the most outspoken of manners- and more than a handful of odes cover the traveling life and/or love that has been tested or is being tested. And his musical choices aren’t going to surprise many people, either. There are two feedback drenched and moderately experimental rockers - "All My Life" and the title cut. "Until the Day I Die" puts Earle back in bluegrass mode once again while "The Galway Girl" is one of two songs that demonstrates that his fascination with Ireland is still unrequited. There a couple of acoustic based songs and a few songs showing Earle’s love of the Beatles which sound as if Earle could have written them for Tom Petty — which is interesting since longtime Petty associate Ray Kennedy recorded and mixed the bulk of the tracks.

But in giving listeners what they expect, Earle is giving them what they want even if he doesn’t make every moment pleasant. The previously mentioned "All of My Life" is a rock opera and three parts and three minutes and 22 seconds. It begins with heavy guitars and mid tempo rhythms that wouldn’t sound out of place on modern rock radio but changes quickly after two verses and choruses. The music becomes simply the constant tapping of a loosely held hi-hat by Steve’s son Patrick, who plays drums on this and one additional song, and guitar drones. With this and background vocals that give the sense that we are hearing a séance, Earle delivers some of his most passionate vocals ever. He sings:

Everybody wants to be somebody’s something
Ain’t nobody wants to be blue
Ain’t nobody anywhere who ever loved nothin’
Half as much as I love you
Somebody somewhere said "love is a prison"
But no one really wants to be free
I have to be crazy to ever think someone
Could love a nobody like me

By the last two lines, the anger in his voice is unmistakable and the music picks up on this, unleashing a torrent of anger where the point is hard to miss before Earle and company throw in an additional verse and the bitter chorus "I’ve been waiting all of my life." On the surface this song appears to be the musings of a stalker but with lines about how much he knows about this person even though he’s "never even kissed ya," you have to wonder if Earle is talking about a particular person so much as he is talking about the some future love that he dreams of.

The title cut, which opens Transcendental Blues, also has an unclear message. The previously mentioned opening line and surprisingly soothing music are likely to fool listeners into thinking that this is a song about finding a comfortable place in life. Earle discards that option in short order, however, nonchalantly saying, "If I had it my way, everything would change" towards the end. He might be talking about the past here but he is most definitely talking about the present and the future.

As uncomfortable as Earle appears to be, he has hardly given up hope. The album features several statements of faith but "When I Fall" is the most powerful. In fact it is probably strongest such statement ever from Earle and that is no small feat given that his post-prison work —he got out in 1995 after serving time for drug charges- is littered with songs covering this topic. The music and lyrics to "When I Fall" are good, but not exceptional. What sets the song apart is that it is a duet between Steve and his sister Stacey Earle. Stacey has plenty of talent and her presence does add a spark to the composition that

Steve’s lumbering voice often lacks but her impact in that area is minimal when compared to Lucinda Williams’ performance on "You’re Still Standing There" — a duet that she did with Steve on 1996’s I Feel Alright. What Stacey does provide though is the sense that she is not singing in the abstract but out of very real concerns for her brother. It is a shoot not a work, so to speak. She first appears to sing the third verse, which goes:

All these years I’ve watched you trip and stumble
There were times that I feared you were lost
But ever tear that I dried after you tumbled
Comes to mind when I’m considerin’ the cost

These lyrics seem as if Steve had written them specifically for Stacey and perhaps he did. Many times during his life, Steve would "trip and stumble" and it certainly must have been hard for his sister to watch and there were probably many points when she wished she didn’t have to deal with his problems but you can’t do that with those you love. As the two sing together in the final verse:

In my heart there’s a place for you to run to
Anytime you’re tired and hurt and blue
For my part I have only to remind you
You will find me waiting when you do

The wonderful thing about all of this is that Steve Earle’s music is itself a shelter from the storm. Sure it doesn’t match what a personal relationship can do but it is still strong and it is still powerful. And it is always there for us.

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