Title: The Wire
Content:  Rather than overlaying songs on the soundtrack, or employing a score, The Wire primarily uses pieces of music that emanate from a source within the scene, such as a jukebox or car radio. This kind of music is known as diegetic or source cue. This practice is rarely breached, notably for the end-of-season montages and occasionally with a brief overlap of the closing theme and the final shot. The opening theme is "Way Down in the Hole," a gospel-and-blues-inspired song, written by Tom Waits for his 1987 album Franks Wild Years. Each season uses a different recording and a different opening sequence, with the theme being performed by The 
Title: The Wire
Content:  narrative. The first season montage is played over "Step by Step" by Jesse Winchester, the second "I Feel Alright" by Steve Earle, the third "Fast Train" written by Van Morrison and performed by Solomon Burke, the fourth "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" written by Dr. John and performed by Paul Weller and the fifth uses an extended version of "Way Down In The Hole" by the Blind Boys of Alabama, the same version of the song used as the opening theme for the first season. While the songs reflect the mood of the sequence, their lyrics are usually only loosely tied to the visual shots. In the commentary 
Title: The Wire
Content:  Boys of Alabama, Waits, The Neville Brothers, DoMaJe and Steve Earle. The season four version of "Way Down in the Hole" was arranged and recorded for the show and is performed by five Baltimore teenagers: Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir and Avery Bargasse. Earle, who performed the fifth season version, is also a member of the cast, playing the recovering drug addict Walon. The closing theme is "The Fall," composed by Blake Leyh, who is also the music supervisor of the show. During season finales, a song is played before the closing scene in a montage showing the lives of the protagonists in the aftermath of 
Title: The Wire (season 5)
Content:  the journalism story line were Tom McCarthy as morally challenged reporter Scott Templeton and Michelle Paress as reporter Alma Gutierrez. Season 4 main cast members Frankie Faison, Jim True-Frost, Robert Wisdom, and Chad L. Coleman, who played Ervin Burrell, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski, Howard "Bunny" Colvin and Dennis "Cutty" Wise, respectively, had recurring but not starring roles in the season. Other returning guest stars included Steve Earle as drug counsellor Walon; Anwan Glover as Slim Charles; Robert F. Chew as drug kingpin Proposition Joe; Method Man as drug lieutenant Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff; Felicia Pearson as the eponymous criminal enforcer Felicia "Snoop" Pearson; Chris Ashworth as former enforcer for the Greeks Sergei "Serge" 
Title: The Wire (season 5)
Content: Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty (10 episodes) ; Reg E. Cathey as Norman Wilson (10 episodes) ; John Doman as William Rawls (9 episodes) ; Aidan Gillen as Tommy Carcetti (10 episodes) ; Clark Johnson as Augustus Haynes (10 episodes) ; Deirdre Lovejoy as Rhonda Pearlman (9 episodes) ; Tom McCarthy as Scott Templeton (10 episodes) ; Clarke Peters as Lester Freamon (10 episodes) ; Wendell Pierce as Bunk Moreland (10 episodes) ; Lance Reddick as Cedric Daniels (9 episodes) ; Andre Royo as Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins (6 episodes) ; Sonja Sohn as Kima Greggs (10 episodes) ; Seth Gilliam as Ellis Carver (7 episodes) ; Domenick Lombardozzi as Herc (5 episodes) ; Michael K. Williams as Omar Little (6 episodes) ; Gbenga Akinnagbe as Chris Partlow (9 episodes) ; Jamie Hector as Marlo Stanfield (9 episodes) ; Neal Huff as Michael Steintorf (9 episodes) ; Jermaine Crawford as Dukie Weems (8 episodes) ; Corey Parker Robinson as Leander Sydnor (9 episodes) ; Tristan Wilds as Michael Lee (9 episodes) ; Michael Kostroff as Maurice Levy (5 episodes) ; Michelle Paress as Alma Gutierrez (10 episodes) ; Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Clay Davis (7 episodes) 
Title: The Wire (season 5)
Content:  as Reg E. Cathey as political aide Norman Wilson;  and Domenick Lombardozzi as troubled defense investigator Thomas "Herc" Hauk. In the street, Jamie Hector returned as West-side drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield. Also returning for the street storyline were Andre Royo as heroin addict Bubbles; and Michael K. Williams as underworld legend Omar Little. Former recurring characters who joined the main cast were Tristan Wilds as Michael Lee, Gbenga Akinnagbe as Chris Partlow, Jermaine Crawford as Duquan "Dukie" Weems, Isiah Whitlock, Jr. as corrupt State Senator Clay Davis, Michael Kostroff as defense attorney Maurice Levy, and Neal Huff as Mayoral chief of staff Michael Steintorf. In addition to Johnson, joining the main cast 
Title: -30- (The Wire)
Content:  The Blind Boys of Alabama's version of Tom Waits' "Way Down in the Hole" plays over the episode's closing montage. This version of the song had previously been used as the theme music for the show's first season. During the scene where McNulty plays Trouble with Beadie Russell's children, the song that can be heard playing in the background is "Rich Woman" by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant from their 2007 album Raising Sand. "Body of an American" by The Pogues is heard during McNulty's staged "detective's wake", making it the third time the song was used in the course of the show's run. Also, "The Broad Majestic Shannon" can be heard echoing out of the bar in the scene after the "wake".
Title: The Wire (season 5)
Content:  HBO announced on September 12, 2006, that a fifth and final season consisting of 13 episodes—but later reduced to ten—had been commissioned. Production for Season 5 officially began on April 30, 2007. Filming wrapped early in the morning of September 1, 2007 and the first episode aired on January 6, 2008. In an interview with Slate on December 1, 2006, David Simon said that Season 5 would be about the media and media consumption. A major focus would be journalism, which would be dramatized through a newspaper modeled after The Baltimore Sun. The theme, according to Simon, would deal with "what stories get told and what don't and why 
Title: The Wire (season 5)
Content:  do "more with less" when he asserts that in reality, you can only do "less with less." The series realism has been reported as being maintained particularly through the accurate dialogue and use of contemporary slang. Series creator David Simon further expanded on the thematic content of season five in an interview with Fancast/Inside TV. Critic David Zurawik saw the unifying theme of the season as "public and private lies," particularly those perpetuated by the media and told by Jimmy McNulty in protest against cutbacks in the police department. TV Guide writer Matt Roush also saw the central theme as lies and characterized it as "deeply and darkly ironic."
Title: The Wire (season 5)
Content:  The fifth and final season of the television series The Wire commenced airing in the United States on January 6, 2008, and concluded on March 9, 2008; it contained 10 episodes. The series continued to examine the Baltimore police department, the Stanfield organization and city hall while introducing a fictionalized version of the Baltimore Sun newsroom. The fifth season aired on Sundays at 9:00 pm ET in the United States. The season was released on DVD as a four disc boxed set under the title of The Wire: The Complete Fifth Season on August 12, 2008 by HBO Video.

Question: who sings the wire season 5 theme song?
Answer: Steve Earle.