Feeling The Loneliest Man In America

The only fairly recent post prison and post drugs album by Steve Earle that I have is this one, Jerusalem. It is his "9/11" album with many of the songs being a reaction against the reaction and the "war on terror". This is done in an artistic way rather than a simplistic name calling way but there's little doubt as to where Earle's sympathies lie. His sleevenotes are dated July 4th 2002 and in them he states that he feels the loneliest man in America sometimes. Maybe he's a little less lonely these days. John Walker's Blues tackles the question of the American kid discovered amongst the ranks of the taliban in Afghanistan and other titles give an indication of the tone; Ashes to Ashes, Amerika v 6.0, Conspiracy Theory, The Truth, What's a Simple Man To Do ? The album concludes with a plea for hope and co-operation in the title song. Musically, it is recognisably a Steve Earle band production but is given a bright synthy sound with drums heavily to the front of the mix. He'll return to political matters in his songs I'm sure but he has recently taken a step back towards more personal songs which he can do just as well.