It's probably an order to the guys in the control booth to hit the record button, but it could just as well be Mr. Earle's mantra. The roads traveled on Transcendental Blues are familiar to anyone who's listened to the musical descendants of Hank Williams or Woody Guthrie.
Restless men ramble down the highway looking for love and redemption.
Brokenhearted men merge with the shadows. Condemned men grapple with their destinies. They're subjects that have been covered by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Guy Clark, Bruce Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt, and even Mr. Earle, to name a few. But what makes Mr. Earle one of the finest songwriters of his time and perhaps one best adapted to this moment when there seem to be no more new ideas or even chord progressions is that no matter how many times he travels the same roads, already rutted by the footprints of his musical predecessors, he always comes back with something that sounds new and distinctly his own. Mr. Earle writes deceptively simple songs and then infuses his songs with his considerable life experience, galvanizing them.