Hardcore Troubadour: The Life and Near Death of Steve Earle

I generally don’t bother with writing reviews - I just rate the books and move on - but I felt like I had to say something about Hardcore Troubadour. Steve Earle has got an incredible story, but I’m not certain Lauren St. John was the voice to tell it. An English writer of children’s animal stories somehow doesn’t capture what, in my mind, Steve Earle is all about.St. John’s writing is awkward at times and at other times veers into the strange, such as when she quotes Earle as using the word “bonnet” in reference to a car hood. I obviously don’t know Steve Earle, but I have lived in Texas and my guess is that he has never in his life used the word bonnet in the context of an automobile. St. John also annoyingly refers several times to the band Tesla as Tessler and spells Steven Tyler’s first name as “Stephen.” Whether this is sloppy proofreading or an overall lack of familiarity with her broader subject is a question I was left asking.I very recently read Rocks, Joe Perry’s autobiography, and I think Earle could have benefited from writing his story his way guided by a co- (or ghost- ) writer. I realize Hardcore Troubadour is 10 years old now, but my hope is that at some point Steve Earle will write his own story in his own, truer, voice.

I'd recently become intertsted in STeve Earle, buying a couple of his older CD's, whilst I am not a fan of country music Earle does tend to cross genre's. After finding myself fascinated by the lyrics of his songs I did a little research and purchased this title.As a read it was very entrtaining and well written, whilst delivering a warts and all picture of Earle and his life, it was quite sympathetic to Earle. I thought perhaps the book glossed over the negative aspects of Earles life, not giving much commentary to his parting from Managers and those who had worked with him and helped him through his journey. As mentioned the book is sympathetic to Earle and certainly not judgemental

Author's style jumped rather than using a continuous timeline. She contradicted herself in a few placed and appeared to use the wrong wife's name . A linear approach would have been much easier to follow and avoided much confusion. There were also inconsistencies with Earle's parents story as well. What I was able to glean as fact was interesting and gave insight into Earle's life.

Good book

Great book. Even if you know only a little of Steve Earles music his life surely will not bore you.

Well written biography of one of today's music icons. Immensely talented, totally real and chased by his demons, he's come through to the other side better than ever. Great read.

good

Bought as a Christmas gift and he loved it. Good winter reading.

Anyone expecting a hagiography because of the fact that author Lauren St John received the support of Steve Earle and his family will be very taken aback by this warts and all portrait of this incredibly versatile songwriter short story writer and now playwright. The story of Earle's life is a rattling good read and often extremely gripping. St John has elicited some toe-curlingly graphic details of Earle's tempestuous life and obtained many brutally frank details from the man himself. Having been a long time fan of Earle I have often wondered about the many details of his life I was not aware of. This book covers them all including his self-styled "holiday in the ghetto"when his drug addiction led to a spell in jail. We find out how he has transformed his life since his release and entered an incredibly fertile in his writing. If you want to find out more about one of the greatest of all songwriters I unhesitatingly recommend this book.Graham Paine Coventry

Love Steve`s music BUT I am sorry that I can`t comment on this book yet as I have a bit of a backlog of books to read at the moment, so I haven`t started to read this one yet.

Steve Earle: a true rock n roller. How this guy is still alive is simply staggering. I've read many, many biographies and Earle is the most rock n roll of the lot - the drink, the drugs, the women, the control-freakery, the 'up-yours' to traditional Nashville. It's a rollercoaster ride that's endearing and sad.

This is one of the best books I have read for some time. You obviously have to have an interest in Steve Earle and the story of this man can sometimes be quite hairy to say the least, but you cannot help admiring how he got himself together after what he put himself through initially. Highly recommended.

got this book as a present for my partner who like myself is a fan of Steve Earle.he is still reading it and rating it high