Steve Earle & The Dukes – “L.A. Freeway” (Guy Clark Cover)

Steve Earle & The Dukes – “L.A. Freeway” (Guy Clark Cover)

Legendary songwriter and storyteller Steve Earle is back with a cover of the late Guy Clark’s “L.A. Freeway.” This is the second single to be released from Steve Earle And The Dukes’ upcoming record of Clark covers, GUY, which is slated for release in March.

Earle’s version of “L.A. Freeway” modernizes Clark’s iconic (and arguably most popular) track without completely reinventing it. The original acoustic plucks are incorporated into a fully-realized melody, and the addition of a pedal steel guitar and fiddle make this cover a truly sublime homage.

GUY will be Steve Earle’s 19th studio record, but second collection of covers following 2009’s TOWNES, which honors another songwriting paragon, Townes Van Zandt. Earle credits Clark and Van Zandt as pivotal mentors — his own personal Kerouac and Ginsberg — and rightfully so because TOWNES earned him a third consecutive Grammy win following 2004’s The Revolution Starts…Now and 2007’s Washington Square Serenade.

Check out the cover of “L.A. Freeway” below, where you can also hear Earle’s first single from GUY, “Dublin Blues.”

TRACKLIST:
01 “Dublin Blues”
02 “L.A. Freeway”
03 “Texas 1947″
04 “Desperados Waiting For A Train”
05 “Rita Ballou”
06 “The Ballad Of Laverne And Captain Flint”
07 “The Randall Knife”
08 “Anyhow I Love You”
09 “That Old Time Feeling”
10 “Heartbroke”
11 “The Last Gunfighter Ballad”
12 “Out In The Parking Lot”
13 “She Ain’t Going Nowhere”
14 “Sis Draper”
15 “New Cut Road”
16 “Old Friends”

TOUR DATES:
02/10 Boston, MA @ City Winery
02/11 New York, NY @ City Winery
02/12 Washington, DC @ City Winery
02/13 Washington, DC @ City Winery
02/15 Atlanta, GA @ City Winery
02/16 Nashville, TN @ City Winery
02/17 Cincinnati, OH @ Ludlow Garage
02/19 Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
02/21 Dallas, TX @ Kessler Theater
02/22 Houston, TX @ The Heights Theater
02/23 Austin, TX @ The Paramount (Texas Songwriters Hall of Fame)
02/25 Chicago, IL @ City Winery
02/26 Chicago, IL @ City Winery
02/28 Albany, NY @ The Egg
03/01 Rockport, MA @ Shalin Liu Performance Center
03/02 Ithaca, NY @ Hangar Theatre
06/29 Owensboro, KY @ Romp Festival * with the Dukes
07/18 Bala, ONT @ Kee To Bala * with the Dukes
10/03-10/06 Big Indian, NY @ Steve Earle’s Camp Copperhead

GUY is out 3/29 on New West Records. Pre-order it here.

Steve Earle
CREDIT: Tom Bejgrowicz

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