''Copperhead Road'' is the third studio album by Steve Earle, released in 1988. The album is often referred to as Earle's first "rock record"; Earle himself calls it the world's first blend of heavy metal and bluegrass, and the January 26, 1989 review of the album by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' suggested that the style be called "power twang".

Composition

The songs on side one of the album reflect Earle's politics: the title track attacks the

War on Drugs The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, 1 ...

, and the song "

Snake Oil Snake oil is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, "snake oil salesman" is a common expression used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraud ...

" compares then president Ronald Reagan to a traveling

con man A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

and draws attention to his "legacy of creative deceit". The title track and "Johnny Come Lately" (performed with

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse" ...

) both describe the experiences of returning veterans. The latter compares the experience of US servicemen fighting in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

with those in the Vietnam War, and contrasts the differing receptions they received on returning home. "Back to the Wall" is about poverty, describing the life of the homeless in the US. Unlike some issues-oriented musicians, however, Earle does not limit himself to political material. The second side of the album consists of more personal, slower tempo works: love songs ("Even When I'm Blue" for example) and a holiday offering ("Nothing but a Child", performed with

Maria McKee Maria Luisa McKee (born August 17, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice, her 1990 song " Show Me Heaven", and her song "If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)" from the film ''Pulp Fiction'' ...

). The title song " Copperhead Road" tells of a

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

veteran, scion of a rural moonshine bootlegging clan, who returns home to

Johnson County, Tennessee Johnson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18,244. Its county seat is Mountain City. It is the state's northeasternmost county, sharing borders with Virginia and North Carolina. ...

and decides instead to enter the marijuana business, which is shown by the line "I'll take the seed from Colombia and Mexico". Copperhead Road was an actual road near

Mountain City, Tennessee Mountain City is a town in and the county seat of Johnson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,383 at the 2000 census and 2,531 at the 2010 census. It is the northeasternmost county seat in Tennessee. In addition, at an elevati ...

although it has since been renamed as Copperhead Hollow Rd. due to theft of road signs bearing the song's name. The song also inspired a popular

line dance A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each other.Knight, ...

timed to the beat of the song and has been used as the theme music for the Discovery Channel reality series '' Moonshiners''.

Reception

In declaring ''Copperhead Road'' Rock Album of the Week on October 21, 1988, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' described it as "exactly half of a brilliant album, with five smart, ornery, memorable story-songs." With references to Bruce Springsteen,

John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrument ...

and

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

the paper applauded Earle for introducing country music's storytelling and three-chord structures to

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

and contemporary rock music. Side two, however, the ''Times'' dismissed as "strictly average" love songs and a "hokey" Christmas song. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'', including it in the September 19, 1988, Critics' Choices, described it as a "rock-inflected, country-based album" that "takes long chances with big themes ... and does them proud". ''

'' published their review of ''Copperhead Road'' on January 26, 1989. Rob Tannenbaum wrote that the album "begins murderously and ends sentimentally ... split into two song cycles" and described the first side as being "as powerful as any music made this year". Of side two he admits disappointment at conventional love songs, saying Earle "has already examined this terrain and done a better job of it." Nonetheless, the review compares Earle to Randy Newman, Bruce Springsteen, and

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

among others, and concludes with ''Rolling Stone''s designation of Earle as an "important artist" and finding ''Copperhead Road'' worthy of four stars. Airplay on rock radio stations drove the title track into '' Billboard''s

Album Rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orient ...

Top Ten chart, and that in turn helped ''Copperhead Road'' on Billboard's Album Chart, where it peaked at number 56. Waylon Jennings covered "The Devil's Right Hand" on 1986's '' Will the Wolf Survive''. "I was a big Waylon Jennings fan", noted Bob Seger, who covered the song on 2014's '' Ride Out''. "I heard 'The Devil's Right Hand' in a movie called '' Betrayed'' in 1988. Every time I'd see it on cable, maybe once every five years, I'd say, 'Goddamn, that's a cool song. I want to do that some day.' And then, in maybe 2000, I found the movie in a movie bin, watched it and was like, 'Oh my god, Steve Earle wrote it! No wonder I like it. In 2000 it was voted number 412 in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by th ...

''.

Track listing

All tracks written by Steve Earle except where noted.

Original release (1988)

# " Copperhead Road" – 4:29 # "Snake Oil" – 3:31 # "Back to the Wall" – 5:29 # "The Devil's Right Hand" (arranged by Garry W. Tallent) – 3:04 # "Johnny Come Lately" – 4:11 # "Even When I'm Blue" – 4:14 # "You Belong to Me" – 4:25 # "Waiting on You" (Steve Earle, Richard Bennett) – 5:10 # "Once You Love" (Steve Earle, Larry Crane) – 4:39 # "Nothing but a Child" – 4:26

Deluxe edition (2008)

On April 29, 2008,

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

released a 2-disc deluxe edition of Copperhead Road. Disc one is the album as listed above, digitally remastered. Disc two features previously unreleased live recordings. Disc two # "The Devil's Right Hand" (live in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...

– November 19, 1987) – 4:02 # "Fearless Heart" (live in Raleigh) – 4:32 # "San Antonio Girl" (live in Raleigh) – 4:23 # "Nobody but You" / "Continental Trailways Bus" (live in Raleigh) – 6:26 # "My Baby Worships Me" (live in Raleigh) – 3:33 # "Wheels" (

Chris Hillman Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of and one of the original members of the Byrds, which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby and Michael Clarke. With freque ...

Gram Parsons Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) who was known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, ...

) (live in Raleigh) – 4:45 # "The Week of Living Dangerously" (live in Raleigh) – 7:26 # "Johnny Come Lately" (solo, live in Raleigh) – 3:55 # "Brown and Root" ( Emmylou Harris,

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

) (live in Raleigh) – 3:46 # "I Love You Too Much" (live in Raleigh) – 4:28 # "It's All Up to You" (Steve Earle,

Harry Stinson Harry Stinson (born June 3, 1953 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian real estate developer from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is president of Stinson Properties, Inc. He has been called Toronto's "condo king". Biography Stinson's most significant ...

) (live in Raleigh) – 6:11 # "

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

" ( Bruce Springsteen) (solo, live – 1988) – 5:21 # "Copperhead Road" (live in Calgary, Canada – April 1989) – 4:08 # "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" (live in Calgary) – 3:52 # " Dead Flowers" (

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

) (live in Calgary) – 5:36 # "Little Sister" (Greg Trooper) (solo, live in Calgary) – 3:15 # "Guitar Town" (live in Calgary) – 2:36

Personnel

* Steve Earle – vocals, guitars, harmonica, 6-string bass, mandolin * Donny Roberts – guitars, 6-string bass * Bill Lloyd – acoustic guitar, 12-string electric guitar *

Bucky Baxter William "Bucky" Baxter (1955May 25, 2020) was an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of Steve Earle and The Dukes and as a member of Bob Dylan's backing band in the mid-90s during the Never Ending Tour. He released his only solo ...

– pedal steel, lap steel, Dobro * Ken Moore – synthesizer and organ *

John Barlow Jarvis John Barlow Jarvis (born January 2, 1954 in Pasadena, California)Paul Kingsbury, editor"The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music" 2004 is an American songwriter, composer, session pianist and recording artist. Before mov ...

– piano * Kelley Looney – bass * Kurt Custer – drums * Neil MacColl – mandolin on "Johnny Come Lately" * John Cowan,

Radney Foster Radney Muckleroy Foster (born July 20, 1959) is an American country music singer-songwriter, musician and music producer. Initially a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Foster made his recording debut as part of the Foster & Lloyd duo, recording ...

– background vocals * Chris Birkett – drum programming on "You Belong to Me" *

Gary Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being bass player and founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band s ...

– arrangement on "The Devil's Right Hand" *

played on "Johnny Come Lately" * Telluride played on "Nothing But a Child" The Pogues *

Terry Woods Terence Woods (born 4 December 1947 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish folk musician, songwriter/singer and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his membership in such folk and folk- rock groups as The Pogues, Steeleye Span, Sweeney's Men, ...

–

cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...

* Phil Chevron – guitar, vocals * Jem Finer – banjo *

James Fearnley James Fearnley (born 9 October 1954, Worsley) is an English musician. He played accordion in the Celtic punk band The Pogues. Life and career As a child he was a choir treble before his voice changed at the age of sixteen. He took piano less ...

– accordion *

Spider Stacy Peter Richard "Spider" Stacy (born 14 December 1958, Eastbourne) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known for playing tin whistle and sometimes singing for The Pogues. Early life Stacy left school at 16 after fa ...

– tin whistle, vocals *

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGow ...

– banjo, bodhran *

Darryl Hunt Darryl Hunt (February 24, 1965 – March 13, 2016) was an African-American man from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who, in 1984, was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and the murder of Deborah Sykes, a young whi ...

– bass * Andrew Ranken – drums Telluride *

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Reviva ...

– mandolin *

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. Career In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums. As a sideman, he h ...

– dobro *

Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American fiddle player and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards ...

– violin *

Edgar Meyer Edgar Meyer (born November 24, 1960) is an American bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. He has won five Grammy Awards and been nominated seven times. Meyer is a member of the Telluride Bluegras ...

– bass violin Technical *Joe Hardy – recording, mixing *Chris Birkett – recording on "Johnny Come Lately" *Simon Levy - art direction *Jeff Morris - design *June Beard - patch design

Chart performance

Although no singles from the album were released in the U.S., three of the album's tracks were released as singles in the UK.

References

External links

''Rock 'n' roll rebel or country crusader?''
December 3, 1987, ''Hamilton Spectator'' – (Earle explains theme of ''Copperhead Road''). {{Authority control Steve Earle albums 1988 albums Songs of the Vietnam War Albums produced by Tony Brown (record producer) Uni Records albums