Album dossier / 1986

Guitar Town

Steve Earle · Country/Country Rock

Steve Earle wrote the title track after seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band open with 'Born in the U.S.A.' in Nashville, going home determined to write his own blue-collar opener. MCA's Tony Brown (who discovered Earle through publisher Noel Fox) and bassist Emory Gordy Jr. co-produced the record at Sound Stage Studio's Backstage room, using a young engineer named Chuck Ainlay who would go on to a major Nashville career of his own; guitarist Richard Bennett's overdub work earned him an associate-producer credit. Label boss Jimmy Bowen initially demanded Earle recut demos so lyrics were intelligible and even paid to have Earle's teeth fixed before signing off. Released quietly in March 1986, the debut topped Billboard's Country Albums chart, is often credited as a founding text of alt-country/Americana, and later ranked on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums list.