[jck_strw]

Anyone here watch The Wire? Like several of us on this board, I read Bill Simmons (ESPN) and if you read him you know how much he likes this show. So I decided to give it a shot. I recently obtained all the episodes and watched all four seasons. Damn is this show good. Highly recommended. Can't wait for the next season. BET is rebroadcasting this show, so if you want to check it out, you can start there. It doesn't seem like a show that you can pickup in the middle though, so wait until the beginnning of a new season starts and watch it from there.

Anyhow, one of the regular features of the show is that the last episode of each season has a musical montage. The songs from Season 1 and 2, I think, are the best and I'd never heard either before. Season 1 was a song called Step by Step by Jesse Winchester, which I think is fucking awesome. Season 2, the song was Feelin' Alright by Steve Earle. Another awesome song. I poked around a bit and Steve Earle seems very country. Jesse Winchester is an old folkie. Anybody familiar with either guy?

Great show and great tunes.

[Chief5959]

Jesse Winchester was a singer/songwriter who left for Canada to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war. He wrote a number of really good songs which were covered by other artists e.g. Jerry Jeff Walker. I know Robbie Robertson produced a few of his records. I believe he is back to touring and recording in the states.
Steve Earle is part of the "new Nashville" and is a good songwriter who has had his issues with substances along the way. Now he is a very political writer. Country but there is a good deal of his stuff that rocks. One of those classic too weird for Nashville, too country for FM guys.

[amyjared]

I'm a huge Steve Earle fan. He is the REAL country, the country of Johnny Cash. He has a song called Fuck the FCC on his last album. He sang a song called John Walker's Blues about the guy who defected to the Taliban and the song was from the guys point of view. He covers Springsteen songs very well, had one huge crossover hit with Copperhead Road (about a moonshiner who comes back from 'Nam with a better idea-growing herb!) that was played on some FM stations. He spent time in jail, and when music bigwigs were sitting in a hotel room in NYC working on a million dollar contract for him, he had hocked his plane ticket and was shooting junk in Nashville where he lived. He's clean now and still a thorn in the side of everything that needs it. It's tough for him, being a country star who is pro-choice, anti-war, against our president,etc. He's not played on country stations and not played on rock stations. He's great because he doesn't care about this fact! I saw him live a few times, and the best was with Jackson Browne and Keb Mo and his set is definitely rock. Everyone commented about how loud and thrashy he sounded and I just loved it! I recommend his latest cd: The Revolution Starts...NOW and for a beautiful acoustic cd, try Train a comin. Check him out!