Steve Earle

An access all areas look at the life and career of renowned accordion virtuoso Sharon Shannon, featuring esteemed collaborators & exclusive behind-the-scenes moments from her gigs.

Follow Guy Clark, Susanna Clark, and Townes Van Zandt as they rise from obscurity to reverence: Guy, the Pancho to Van Zandt’s Lefty, struggling to establish himself as the Dylan Thomas of American music, while Susanna pens hit songs and paints album covers for top artists, and Townes spirals in self-destruction after writing some of Americana music’s most enduring and influential ballads.

Peter Case has lived a life of constant change, soaring highs, and soul-crushing lows. This film walks a million miles in the shoes of one of America’s last great troubadours.

As The Rolling Stones mark 60 trailblazing years as rock's most influential band, Nashville pays homage with a star-studded behind-the-scenes documentary following country music's biggest names interpreting, and recording the Stones' songs for Stoned Cold Country, a tribute album that cements the band's enduring impact on the Country Music scene.

A documentary telling the story of Joe Cocker's historic "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" tour through the lens of the Tedeschi Trucks Band's reunion of the Mad Dogs.

Judy Collins burst onto the music scene in the 1960s and has not stopped since. Along with Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle, and Jimmy Webb, Collins leads a candid conversation about the larger community of singer-songwriters who continue to shape the musical landscape decades into their respective careers. Rounding out the afternoon, Tony Award winner Alan Cumming joins Collins to discuss musical theater icon Stephen Sondheim, who penned “Send In the Clowns”—arguably the biggest hit of Collins’ career.

An atmospheric quest film, Love Shines follows Canadian songwriter Ron Sexsmith as he embarks on a last ditch effort to achieve a 'hit'. The curtain pulls back for a rare glimpse inside the process as Sexsmith works with legendary producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Motley Crue). But will this be enough? Sexsmith must emerge with a song that achieves commercial radio play, but the journey with Rock also turns introspective.

In a rural Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a Civil War massacre, a rebellious young man struggles to escape the violence that would bind him to the past.

Discover the origin stories of megastars like Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift while following emerging singer-songwriters as they chase their dreams inside The Bluebird Cafe, Nashville’s accidental landmark that has altered the course of music history.

When a young man, down on his luck, learns about his father's killer's parole, it sets off a cat and mouse chase through the hostile desert, searching for a hidden family inheritance.

Musicwood is an adventure-filled journey, a political thriller with music at its heart. An unusual band of the most famous guitar-makers in the world (Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars, Chris Martin of Martin Guitars and Dave Berryman of Gibson Guitars) travel together into the heart of one of the most primeval rainforests on the planet. Their mission: to negotiate with Native American loggers and change the way this forest is logged before it’s too late for acoustic guitars.

A once-in-a-lifetime concert celebrating 15 million record-selling 13 time Grammy Award-winning, three-time CMA Award recipient, and two-time Americana Awards winner, Emmylou Harris. Recorded at the famous DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. January 10, 2015.

A young, recently-released and unpredictable ex-con with bad luck, and a sexy, listless girl-next-door with a troubled family, become trapped in a downward spiral of crime and obsessive love, as they try to ditch their dead-end town for a better life.

The story behind Johnny Cash's lost Native American-themed concept album and his unique collaboration with folk artist Peter Lafarge. The film also chronicles the reimagining of Cash's highly controversial 1964 record on its 50th anniversary, as recorded at Nashville's historic Sound Emporium Studios. Based on Antonino D'Ambrosio's book "A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears."

Explores the music scene in Greenwich Village, New York in the '60s and early '70s. The film highlights some of the finest singer/songwriters of the day.

The birth of Country music in the true birthplace before it went to Nashville. The "hillbilly" recordings that opened the doors to birth country and rock and roll with Southern Appalachian roots with European and African marginalized and impoverished groups. These music sessions helped people survive the depression and developed rock for future American struggles, rocking the baby to the modern era.

Joined by his long-running five-piece band The Dukes, Earle hit the stage kicking off his Guy Clark tribute with the classic “Dublin Blues,” receiving exuberant cheers at the opening line “Wish I was in Austin.” Earle immediately went into “Texas 1947,” featuring the expert pedal steel work of Ricky Ray Jackson. After sharing a short story about how he met Guy Clark while hitchhiking around Texas, the band performed the ode to the Hill Country honky-tonkin’ queen “Rita Ballou,” featuring Eleanor Whitmore on violin. Following a tale about Clark’s loyalty to Texas BBQ over Tennessee style BBQ, Joe Ely joined Earle on stage to perform “Desperadoes Waiting For a Train” – two Texas music legends trading verses on one of the state’s most influential songs.

There are only a few Bluegrass Boys still around that played with the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe. Peter Rowan was a bluegrass boy in the 1960's for only a short time, but Bill's influence and musical knowledge still resonates with Peter. Even as he branched out into his own music after leaving Bill's band, his bluegrass roots were never far away. This portrait of Peter expands beyond his music to his artistic and spiritual endeavors spanning four decades giving the viewer an in-depth look at a true legend within our Americana musical history. His lyrical quality and melodies are memorable; influencing the next generation of musicians, sharing what Bill taught him and what he has learned being a troubadour traveling the world.

Steve Earle is an American rock, country and folk singer-songwriter, record producer, author and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. His breakthrough album was the 1986 album Guitar Town. Since then Earle has released 15 other studio albums and received three Grammy awards. In this episode, we reveal the unique man behind the music.

"Steve Earle & the Dukes and Duchesses" is what he calls his band by name. One Duchess is wife Allison Moorer. Her wonderfully roughened voice gave Earle's mix of country, folk, Americana and rock an additional, soulful touch. This 75-minute performance ranged from the latest album "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" to his beginnings 25 years ago with "Guitar Town" - including a few political stings in the direction of George W. Bush or oil spill cause BP, but also a declaration of love to his adopted home of New York.

When the bespectacled alt-country legend took to the stage at The Factory Theatre in Sydney, Australia armed with just his bouzouki and larger-than-life attitude, every ear in the place was in the palm of his hand right from the get-go. Planting himself by the microphone in front of a hushed crowd, Earle kicked off proceedings with the sprightly ‘Waitin’ For The Sky to Fall’.

An Ivy League professor returns home, where his pot-growing twin brother has concocted a plan to take down a local drug lord.

William Francome is a fairly typical, white middle-class guy. Typical except for the fact that he is about to embark on a journey into the dark heart of the American judicial system; the tangled world of renowned Death Row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

t's the award-winning "Austin City Limits" television show -- remixed, remastered and reedited from the full original concerts that were adapted for the half-hour TV show. Steve Earle is the featured performer on this video that contains never-before-seen concert footage. Tracks include "Sweet Little '66," "Good-Bye Is All We Got Left," "Guitar Town," "Hillbilly Highway," "Good 'Ol Boy (Getting Tough)," "My Old Friend the Blues" and more.

Chronicles the fascinating and often turbulent life of Townes Van Zandt.

Michael Moore visits colleges in swing states during the 2004 election with a goal to encourage 18–29 year olds to vote.

Following folk musician Joan Baez on her extensive 2008-2009 tour, this film commemorates her career, which has spanned five decades. It includes concert and archival footage as well as interviews with such disparate colleagues, friends and admirers as Bob Dylan, Jesse Jackson and David Crosby. In addition to the music, it also touchs upon Baez's long history of global social activism.

Hal Willner's Harry Smith Project concerts in London, New York and Los Angeles celebrated the eccentric collector genius and his influential Anthology of American Folk Music. Instrumental in inspiring the urban folk revival of the 1960s, the Anthology's continuing impact on modern music is incalculable. Drawing on this legacy, these landmark shows brought together a remarkable roster of artists performing their own unique interpretations of these classic songs.

Filmed over the last six months of the 2000 Presidential election, Phillip Seymour Hoffman starts documenting the campaign at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, but spends more time outside, in the street protests and police actions than in the orchestrated conventions. Hoffman shows an obvious distaste for money politics and the conservative right. He looks seedier and more disillusioned the campaign progresses. Eventually Hoffman seems most energized by the Ralph Nader campaign as an alternative to the nearly indistinguishable major parties. The high point of the film are the comments by Barney Frank who says that marches and demonstrations are largely a waste of time, and that the really effective political players such as the NRA and the AARP never bother with walk ins, sit-ins, shoot-ins or shuffles. In the interview with Jesse Jackson, Hoffman is too flustered to ask all of his questions.

With a vision that took him far beyond the genre of country rock, singer-songwriter Gram Parsons left his mark in gut-wrenching sentiments of country music, burning melodies typical of soul music, sweet, uplifting harmonies of gospel choirs and the hand-clapping boogie of rock and roll. Gram's daughter Polly organized this amazing gathering of his close friends and biggest fans for a Sin City tribute honoring this prince of longhair country boys. A sampling of the live performances include Six Days on the Road Sin City All Stars; Big Mouth Blues Jim Lauderdale; Devil in Disguise Jay Farrar; Sleepless Nights Lucinda Williams; Love Hurts Keith Richards & Norah Jones; Sin City Dwight Yoakam, and more, including commentaries by Polly Parsons and Shilah Morrow.

The Old, Weird America tracks the history of the Anthology of American Folk Music from its initial compilation of 78 records from rural Americana to its 1952 release on Folkways Records, the urban folk revival of the 1960s, and its continuing influence on contemporary music.

A musical documentary film about the politically minded singer/songwriter Steve Earle.

Transcendental Blues is an album released in 2000 by Steve Earle. It features Sharon Shannon on the track "The Galway Girl". The album was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category.

When Steve Earle stepped onto the Austin City Limits stage on November 12, 2000, it had been 14 years since his first appearance in 1986. In between it must've seemed like he had lived several lifetimes. In fact, in the years since, he released five albums, including his latest at the time of this recording, Transcendental Blues. Of the record, Rolling Stone wrote, "These songs weave threads that bind Ireland and the American South, rockabilly and the Beatles, folk music and muscular rock and roll."

The Pogues playing on St. Patrick's Day in London's Town and Country serves to remind fans why we loved the band and possibly why their breakup was inevitable. A thoroughly sloshed Shane MacGowan mumbles and screams his way through most of their hits to that point in time. Of course, real fans like the mumbling and the screaming. Lots of energy, great guests - The Specials, the late Kirstie MacColl and especially the late great Joe Strummer - who not only gets up on stage for a stirring rendition of London Calling, but serves as a kind of host for the evening as he discusses what made the Pogues so great. The video times in at a paltry 60 minutes which leaves you begging for more, but between the singalong Wild Rover and the silly string silliness of Fiesta, it is a jam-packed entertaining piece of music history.

Steve Earle's solo performance at the 2005 Montreux Festival is a charismatic triumph. Armed with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, he performs tracks from across his career, with an emphasis on his later output.

This installment in the 20th Century Masters series contains a selection of music videos from the fiercely independent country singer and songwriter Steve Earle. Fusing country with rock paid rich dividends for Steve Earle as he built a solid career on the back of an amalgamation of his two favorite genres. In the 1980s country was deeply unfashionable, so it took some guts for Earle to dust it down and provide listeners with a modern update of a sound that was considered to be way past its sell-by date. Here, five of his music videos are collected together. Among them are "Someday," "Guitar Town," "Copperhead Road," and two others.

In 1995, Emmylou Harris released "Wrecking Ball", which is considered to be her most experimental album. It featured songs by Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. Harris and producer Daniel Lanois offer an inside look at the making of Emmylou's Grammy-winning album on this promotional VHS tape of the TV special, "Building the Wrecking Ball", which originally aired on PBS in December 1996.

A tribute to Gram Parsons, a pioneering artist in alternative country music, features performances by host John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, the Mavericks, Emmylou Harris, Whiskeytown, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle, Chris Hillman and Margot Timmons.

The intersecting stories of twenty-four characters—from country star to wannabe to reporter to waitress—and their connection through the music business in Nashville, Tennessee.

The music speaks for itself in this performance documentary that highlights some of the biggest names within the country-folk scene in Texas and Tennessee during the last weeks of 1975 and the first weeks of 1976, eschewing narration and staged interviews.

Mary Jo, a single mother navigating the most pivotal day of her life, confronts a series of escalating challenges that could reshape her family’s future. As she balances birthday plans for her nine-year-old daughter, mounting tensions with her independence-seeking teenager, and the growing mystery of a missing ex-husband, Mary Jo is propelled into a relentless Odyssey-like journey.

When a young solar install technician is dispatched from California to West Texas, his experiences with soulful locals, visiting artists, and untethered truth-seekers searching for meaning in the mysterious Marfa lights force him to look beyond the comforting facades that surround him.