Steve Earle does everything he does with intelligence, creativity, passion, and integrity. In music, these strengths have earned him comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, the ardent devotion of his fans, and the admiration of the media. And Earle does a lot: he is singer, songwriter, producer, social activist, teacher. . . . He's not only someone who makes great music; he's someone to believe in. With the publication of his first collection of short stories, Doghouse Roses , he gives us yet another reason to believe. Earle's stories reflect the many facets of the man and the hard-fought struggles, the defeats, and the eventual triumphs he has experienced during a career spanning three decades. In the title story he offers us a gut-wrenchingly honest portrait of a nearly famous singer whose life and soul have been all but devoured by drugs. "Billy the Kid" is a fable about everything that will never happen in Nashville, and "Wheeler County" tells a romantic, sweet-tempered tale about a hitchhiker stranded for years in a small Texas town. A story about the husband of a murder victim witnessing an execution addresses a subject Earle has passionately taken on as a social activist, and a cycle of stories features "the American," a shady international wanderer, Vietnam vet, and sometime drug smuggler -- a character who can be seen as Earle's alter ego, the person he might have become if he had been drafted. Earle is a songwriter's songwriter, and here he takes his writing gift into another medium, along with all the grace, poetry, and deep feeling that has made his music honored around the world.
Publishers Weekly,Reading this uneven collection of 11 stories by underground country music legend Earle is like listening to an album that has been rushed into production to meet a deadline. A couple of the entries are quite good, but others are clumsy, mawkish and preachy. Many deal with drug addiction something with which Earle has had considerable experience and, while realistic, they serve as little more than vehicles for sentiments one might hear expressed at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Earle is also a staunch opponent of the death penalty, and "The Witness" comes off as a well-meaning piece of propaganda to that end. The best story is "The Reunion," in which a dying American ends up in Ho Chi Minh City, where he finds he shares common memories of the war with the Vietnamese soldier sent to evict him from his hotel room. Though the coincidences are pretty unbelievable, the bond that develops between the two men is touching without being overly melodramatic. The final piece, "A Well-Tempered Heart," is typical country ballad material, packing more clich?s into its four pages than a bad novel. Stories like "Taneytown" (in which Earle dubiously attempts the voice of a young black man), "Billy the Kid" and "The Red Suitcase" are the kind even beginning writers should know to put away in a drawer. Earle's fiction thrives on a love of hyperbole and maudlin sentiment, both of which are perhaps best confined to country songs. (June) Forecast: Earle's cult following has increased in the wake of a recent Grammy nomination, as well as profiles in major magazines and appearances on David Letterman's show all of which, along with national advertising and a 10-city author tour, will help spur sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved,Publishers Weekly,Publishers Weekly,Reading this uneven collection of 11 stories by underground country music legend Earle is like listening to an album that has been rushed into production to meet a deadline. A couple of the entries are quite good, but others are clumsy, mawkish and preachy. Many deal with drug addiction something with which Earle has had considerable experience and, while realistic, they serve as little more than vehicles for sentiments one might hear expressed at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Earle is also a staunch opponent of the death penalty, and "The Witness" comes off as a well-meaning piece of propaganda to that end. The best story is "The Reunion," in which a dying American ends up in Ho Chi Minh City, where he finds he shares common memories of the war with the Vietnamese soldier sent to evict him from his hotel room. Though the coincidences are pretty unbelievable, the bond that develops between the two men is touching without being overly melodramatic. The final piece, "A Well-Tempered Heart," is typical country ballad material, packing more clich?s into its four pages than a bad novel. Stories like "Taneytown" (in which Earle dubiously attempts the voice of a young black man), "Billy the Kid" and "The Red Suitcase" are the kind even beginning writers should know to put away in a drawer. Earle's fiction thrives on a love of hyperbole and maudlin sentiment, both of which are perhaps best confined to country songs. (June) Forecast: Earle's cult following has increased in the wake of a recent Grammy nomination, as well as profiles in major magazines and appearances on David Letterman's show all of which, along with national advertising and a 10-city author tour, will help spur sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
