Earle, Steve & The Dukes - Guy
Earle, Steve & The Dukes - Guy
Format: LP
UPC: 607396529612
Release Date: 03/29/19
Condition: N
Out of stock
Couldn't load pickup availability
Share
Steve Earle was nineteen and had just hitchhiked from San Antonio to Nashville in 1974. Back then if you wanted to be where the best songwriters were you had to be in there. Guy Clark had moved to Nashville and if you were from Texas, Guy Clark was king. A few years later, Steve would be playing bass guitar in Guy's band and flying high on what would become an indelible friendship of like-minded musicians who bonded in a kinship of stories told through song.
Flash forward more than forty years to May 2016. Guy Clark had just succumbed to cancer after a long battle with lymphoma. Guy had lived with his disease and had continued to write songs until the day he died. He also painted, built instruments and owned a guitar shop in the Bay Area. According to Earle, “You hung around with him [Guy] and knew why they call what artists do disciplines. Because he was disciplined.”
The same can be said of Earle. In the fall of 2018, Steve and The Dukes went into House Of Blues studio in Nashville and recorded GUY in six days. “I wanted it to sound live...When you’ve got a catalog like Guy’s and you’re only doing sixteen tracks, you know each one is going to be strong.”
Earle and his current, perhaps best-ever Dukes lineup, take on these songs with a spirit of reverent glee and invention. The tunes are all over the place and so is the band, offering max energy on such disparate entries as the bluegrass rave-up “Sis Draper” and the talking blues memoir of “Texas 1947.” Earle’s raw vocal on the sweet, sad “That Old Time Feeling” is heartbreaking, sounding close enough to the grave as to be doing a duet with his late friend and mentor.
You can hear little hints of where Earle came from. The stark “Randall Knife” has the line “a better blade that was ever made was probably forged in Hell,” which wouldn’t be out of place in a Steve Earle original. Also hard to beat is “The Last Gunfighter,” a sardonic western saga to which Earle offers a bravura reading of the chorus: “the smell of the black powder smoke and the stand in the street at the turn of joke.”
But in the end GUY leads the listener back to its beginning, namely Guy Clark, which is what any good “tribute” should do. GUY is a saga of friendship, its ups and downs, what endures. We are lucky that Earle remembers and honors these things, because like old friends, GUY is a diamond.
SHIPPING & RETURNS
SHIPPING & RETURNS
FREE SHIPPING on purchases over $50
LOCAL PICKUP available at checkout
$5 MEDIA MAIL shipping in the USA
RETURNS
Items may be returned within 60 days of the delivery date.
If not defective, any product returned must be in the same condition in which customer received it and in the original retail packaging.
Yellow Racket will be responsible for cost of return on all damaged or defective items. Customer is responsible for cost of return if item is not damaged or defective. Photo/video evidence of damages/defects must be provided by customer within 14 days of the delivery date.
Customer assumes all responsibility for duties and taxes associated with international shipments.
GRADING
GRADING
Yellow Racket assigns condition based on the Goldmine Standard for grading records.
New (N) (Not typically included in the Goldmine Standard)
New records are purchased directly from the label, distributor, or registered wholesaler. Records are still sealed. Jackets may have slight shelf wear, but media has never been played.
Mint (M)
Still sealed. Never played. No observable flaws. Items have been purchased secondhand.
Near Mint (NM)
A Near Mint (NM) record will play perfectly, with no imperfections during playback. The record should show no obvious signs of wear.
The cover (and any additional packaging) has no creases, folds, seam splits, cut-out holes, or other noticeable defects.
Very Good Plus (VG+)
A Very Good Plus (VG+) record will show some signs that it was played and otherwise handled by a previous owner who took good care of it.
Defects should be more of a cosmetic nature, not affecting the actual playback as a whole. Record surfaces may show some signs of wear and may have slight scuffs or very light scratches.
The disc and LP cover may have slight signs of wear, and may be gently marred by spindle marks, paper scuffs, wrinkled corners, etc.
Very Good (VG)
Many of the defects found in a VG+ record will be more pronounced in a VG disc. Surface noise will be evident, but will not overpower the music. Disc may have light scratches (deep enough to feel with a fingernail) that will affect the sound.
Labels, jackets, and inserts will have visible cosmetic flaws such as wrinkles, cut-outs, slight splitting, etc. However, it will usually have less than a dozen minor flaws.
Good (G)
A record in Good condition can be played through without skipping. But it will have significant surface noise, scratches, and visible groove wear. A cover or sleeve will have seam splits, especially at the bottom or on the spine. Tape, writing, ring wear, or other defects will be present.
While the record will be playable without skipping, noticeable surface noise and "ticks" will almost certainly accompany the playback.
Poor (P), Fair (F)
The record may be cracked, badly warped, or won't play through without skipping or repeating. The picture sleeve may be water damaged, split, or heavily marred by wear and writing.
