JERUSALEM

Personnel: Steve Earle (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, harmonium, organ, Mini-Moog synthesizer); Emmylou Harris, Siobhan Maher Kennedy (vocals); Eric "Roscoe" Ambel (guitar, background vocals); John Jarvis (electric piano); Mike Bubb, Kelley Looney (bass); Kenny Malone, Will Rigby (drums, percussion); Patrick Earle (percussion); Dane Clark (loops). Recorded at Room & Board, Hermitage, Tennessee and Cowboy Technical Rig, Brooklyn, New York. JERUSALEM was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Folk Album. For a singer-songwriter who proclaims himself "somewhat to the left of Mao" it's no surprise that Steve Earle has drawn the ire of the right for challenging the status quo, particularly around the one-year anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks. The bone of conention on his 2002 outing JERUSALEM is "John Walker's Blues," a moody, mid-tempo number that attempts to explore the reasoning behind "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh's actions. It triggered a wave of knee-jerk reactions accusing Earle of being everything from the second coming of Hanoi Jane to a washed-up anti-American opportunist. Conservatives will likewise scoff at his trenchant commentaries on illegal immigration (the Augie Meyers-flavored Tex-Mex shuffle "What's A Simple Man To Do") and the transformation of baby boomers from idealistic revolutionaries to self-absorbed merchants of greed (the chugging rocker "Amerika v. 6.0 [The Best We Can Do]). Earle brifely changes gears to duet with Emmylou Harris on the gorgeous lament "I Remember You," and wields a Dylanish harmonica and twangy guitar to end on a high note with a closing title track that optimistically awaits the coming of peace to the Middle East.