Copperhead Road

Steve Earle has long been one of my country favorites - mostly because he is so stridently anti-Nashville and anti-Bush - speaking his mind and not caring who he offends. He speaks truth to power with passion and eloquence. Needless to say, you won't be hearing him on any Clear Channel stations in the near future.

Here's a couple of representative samples - Copperhead Road is one of my all-time favorites because it speaks to how the lack of opportunity for the rural poor in this country leads them down a dangerous path. Yet there is great romance and poetry in these lives lived on the fringe. Without moonshine makers we would not have Nascar, for example.

The other song is Steve paired up with another all-time favorite, Emmylou Harris, on "Goodbye."