Jerusalem
On 1997'sEl Corazón, Steve Earle wished for the return ofWoody Guthrieto a world sorely lacking voices of righteous dissent. Here, Earle stops pining for ghosts and gruffly makes his own claim to the agit-folk crown. The controversial "John Walker's Blues" drew attention to the album and the ire of many who misunderstood it, but it's only one of many topical tunes on a disc that issues a kind of call to arms: over the distorted guitars and garbage-pail drums of "Amerika v. 6.0" and in the spare and creepy satire "Conspiracy Theory," Earle rallies listeners to resist such corrosive cultural forces as consumerism, xenophobia, and apathy. And as Earle's songs often do, several cuts offer sympathetic portrayals of folks on the margins: a busted Mexican migrant writes a letter home as organ chirps and guitars blaze through "What's a Simple Man to Do?" and in "The Truth," Earle's fuzzed-out drawl depicts life behind bars. Though nearly every moment of this ambitious album is laden with meaning, there's room enough for simple beauty--like the velvet voice ofEmmylou Harrison "I Remember You"--and, more importantly, hope. "I believe there'll come a day," Earle affirms in the closing track, "when the lion and the lamb will lie down in peace together in Jerusalem."--Anders Smith Lindall