What songwriting does better than almost anything is empathy - it's incredibly empathetic. The reason people sat around in bars when they were bummed out and listened to country songs is because it made them feel better in the long… — Steve Earle Copy Share Image
When you're really bummed out, the last thing you want to hear is up-tempo and positive. And it lets you know that you're not alone, that somebody has hurt before. It works the same way with chick songs as it does with political songs. When you hear somebody singing about these things, you know that you're not alone, that somebody… — Steve Earle Copy Share
America's criminal justice system isn't known for rehabilitation. I'm not sure that, as a society, we are even interested in that concept anymore. — Steve Earle Copy Share Image
I love theater. I go all the time. It's one of the reasons I moved to New York. But I understand that I have… — Steve Earle Copy Share Image
You know, I'm not comfortable with people whose politics are static in a democracy. — Steve Earle Copy Share Image
Back then, the business depended on bohemians. ... They needed Kristofferson and Roger Miller ..It was the tail end of something...the last Tin Pan… — Steve Earle Copy Share Image
I think the singer/songwriter genre is going to be like bluegrass and jazz. You can make a living at it, but it's not part… — Steve Earle Copy Share Image
The singer-songwriter has always played music that was stylistically rooted in the '30s and the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. But the fact… — Steve Earle Copy Share Image
Sonnets are guys writing in English, imitating an Italian song form. It was a form definitely sung as often as it was recited. — Steve Earle Copy Share Image
When I write something simple I'm always really proud of it. When you write something that simple with that much air in it and the whole premise behind it is something pretty obvious - that everybody wants to be happy and free - the song is sort of an exercise in not forgetting that's what you really want and what… — Steve Earle Copy Share
