Guitar Town (1986)

Guitar Town is the debut studio album from American singer-songwriter Steve Earle, released on March 5, 1986. It topped the Billboard country album charts, and the title song reached No. 7 on the country singles chart. Earle was also nominated for two 1987 Grammy Awards, Best Male Country Vocalist and Best Country Song, for the title track.

Production

The album was recorded in late 1985 and early 1986 in Nashville, Tennessee, at Sound Stage Studio. Overdubs were later recorded at Nashville's Emerald Studios. It was one of the first country music albums to be recorded digitally, utilizing the Mitsubishi X-800. Each of the album's original ten tracks was either written or co-written by Earle.

Reception and legacy

In 2003, the album was ranked number 489 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2012, the magazine ranked it at No. 482 on a revised list, calling it "the rocker's version of country, packed with songs about hard living in the Reagan Eighties."

In 2006, it ranked 27th on CMT's "40 Greatest Albums in Country Music". In 2016, the album was re-released as a 30th Anniversary Edition with a corresponding tour.

The title track was later covered by Emmylou Harris. "Someday" was later covered by Shawn Colvin on her cover album, Cover Girl.

"My Old Friend The Blues" was covered by The Proclaimers.

Personnel

• Steve Earle – guitar, vocals
• The Dukes

Bucky Baxter – pedal steel guitar, guitar on "State Trooper"

Richard Bennett – guitar, 6-string bass, slap bass, associate producer

Ken Moore – organ, synthesizer, keyboards on "State Trooper"

• Emory Gordy, Jr. – bass, mandolin, producer
• Harry Stinson – drums, vocals

Reno Kling – bass on "State Trooper"

Michael McAdam – guitar on "State Trooper"

Additional musicians

Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar on "Fearless Heart" and "Someday"

• John Barlow Jarvis – synthesizer, piano
• Steve Nathan – synthesizer
• Technical
• Chuck Ainlay – recording, mixing
• Alan Messer – photography