Considering the shift of public opinion towards dubya, I would honestly be surprised to see ANY other artists/filmakers/musicians being blacklisted because of their negative view of the current administration…

You know, being a native Tennesseean, I would have to say that most
musicians in this genre are, in fact, NOT right-wing lunatics. Steve
Earle is just one of its more vocal artists. In fact, if you would
take the time to listen to the songs you would realize that almost
every single bluegrass musician is a liberal, or at least a populist,
who is not interested in war and who wants to do something about
poverty and social injustice. One should not let a bonafide right-
wing redneck dumb*** like Toby Keith, who would probably soil himself
if he was actually in the war, be a representative of a genre for poor
folk who don’t want to fight but have too. And before you say anything
about whether or not I served my country: YES! USMC in Desert Storm and
I was on the front lines of the invasion. It was awful.

Big fan, he’s been one of my favorites for the last 20 years. I wouldn’t call him a strictly country artist, he’s definetly crosses over into the rock/indy crowd. Pisses off Nashville to no end. His voice has deteriorated since his problems with the law (and drugs). But he’s distinctly unique as a song writer. Don’t worry about him getting Dixie Chicked, he’s more than capable of fighting back. Remember, this is the guy who performed “John Walker Blues” a few years back.

Steve Earle is provocative, and I like that he says what is “unsayable” in country music. However, his profanity is distasteful to much of the country, “family” audiences, e.g., the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okehah, Oklahoma, myself included. I see no reason to have to say “motherfucker” as many times as he did, to an audience of little kids and grannies and grandpas. I’.m also sorry he probably will not be invited back there b/c of it. Too bad.

Well, I guess you pig fucking liberals can really be proud of one of your own. Steve Earl — ” Livin’ in the motherfuckin’ USA”. That’s real good.

Ooooh…when you use the “C” word it makes me so scared. There is only one humane option and that is the practice of the current economic administration. Everything else, by definition, must be evil. I mean, capitalism never hurt anybody, right?

Yeah, if Steve’s a commie, he must eat babies and everything else about his life has no value.

Grow the fuck up.

Steve has moved to New York City recently and he is missed around here (I live in Nashville and saw his last show as a full-time resident at the “World Famous ExitIn”). He has been the man (he gave the receipts from the show to the Nashville Peace & Justice Center and to the Anti-Death Penalty group “Tennessee Coalition Against State Killing”-google them).

He is a self-defined “Red Neck Leftist” (rednecks are just folks from no money, Dubya is not a redneck, he is “White Trash”). As a fellow “Red Neck Leftist” I thank Steve for being there and reminding me that we leftists can make a difference.

Fools. The idea of Communism did NOT kill anyone – fucking biligerent, fascistic, overzealous, power-hungry, crazy dictators who twisted (and in the case of North Korea, still twist) the idea of communism as marching orders to justify their fascitic dictatorship are the killers. Stalin might have said he was a communist, but he was just a mudering dictator. Murderers are not communists, or capitalists, or anything but Murderers. Go to school and learn the difference between communism and Stalinism. Once you learn, you’ll find that, with his will and wish to control the labels people get, like “pro-terror” and “anti troops,” which is applied to American citizens and government officials who disagree with his BS, along with his administration’s use of a national network for propoganda, Bush is closer to Stalin than any President America ever had. Plus, with a total of 30-40,000 people dead because of his rediculous whim, he’s got a little bit of a start on competing with Stalin’s death record though admittedly he’s got a long way to go). So – it’s not communism that kills, it’s Assholes. Communism as an idea is peaceful – Naziiam is fundamentally wrong right off the bat, but not communism. Go back to your grave, McCarthy.

James McMurtry is a good ol’ boy from Texas who has more that a few words for the Bush regime that’s destroying this country. You can download his fine song: “We Can’t Make It Here” at the following address for free.
James McMurtry

Bernie Sanders has his permission to use it for his campaign next year.

His album, “Live in Aught-Three” is a delightful live take on his music, on which he gets to zing ‘W’ a couple times during his between song patter.

“Well, I guess you pig fucking liberals can really be proud of one of your own.”

Well, at least we know the intelligence of our opponents. Last I heard, though,
the only person caught in a livestock-fucking scandal was conservative Neal Horsley.

communism is a broad term. most people think of china and soviet russion. but there is an alternative – libertarian communism or, anarchism. go look it up. and no, anarchism isn’t throwing bombs and being an asshole, it means ‘without rulers’.
I see on the cover of steves new album there is a star with red and black stripes – those are the colours of the anarcho-syndicalists of the 1936 spanish revolution.

broaden your minds.

Steve Earle is, and has always been, an amazing musician who plays REAL music for the people, for everybody and his sound isn’t beholden to just one genre, though most of what he does is primarily blue-collar country-rock, but bluegrass and punk also figure big into his sound. Funny thing is, “The Revolution Starts Now,” even though it is a really good album, is probably one of his weaker records, though it blows practically everything else on “country radio,” if you can call it that, out of the water at current. Can’t wait for his next record. Love him or hate him, Steve is definitely to be commended for his outspokenness as to his politics, however, wherever one stands politically shouldn’t hamper one from glossing over an artist of Steve’s caliber. I know of more far right wingers who listen to Rage Against the Machine than moderate-to-lefties I know, and that band is even more extreme and outspoken than Earle is. Steve Earle also really doesn’t do strictly political music; he has written some of the best songs in the past 20 or so years. Anyone interested in him should definitely check out “Guitar Town,” the masterful “Train a Comin’” or “Copperhead Road,” which features a great indictment of Emperor George I called “Snake Oil.”