I think anything that's done urgently enough to be art is going to alienate somebody. If you're not pissing somebody off, you ain't doing it right. Although he doesn't come from the mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia where bluegrass is indigenous Earle's traditional tales of doomed coal miners, lonesome train riders and jealous murderers come naturally to the roughneck singer's voice and sensibility. This is very much a Steve Earle album in that the songs are about the same things they are always about. I've always written songs that are just about folks.
Writers write from memory.
They write about childhood experiences and growing up. It takes years and years before you get all that out of your system. Part of this record has to do with me taking a longer look at the part of the country that I live in now. I've touched on it before. Copperhead Road is definitely set in this part of the world.