''Exit 0'' is the second studio album from American singer-songwriter

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...

(credited to Steve Earle & The Dukes), released in 1987. Earle was nominated for two 1988 Grammy Awards for songs on the album, Best Male Country Vocalist for "Exit 0" and Best Country Song for "Nowhere Road". The album was recorded digitally, using the Mitsubishi X-800 at

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

's Emerald Studios. All of the album's ten tracks were written or co-written by Earle. Earle and his band played live shows regularly during breaks in recording. ''Exit 0'' is stylistically very similar to its predecessor, ''

Guitar Town ''Guitar Town'' is the debut album from singer-songwriter Steve Earle, released on March 5, 1986. It topped the ''Billboard'' country album charts, and the title song reached #7 on the country singles charts. Earle was also nominated for two 1 ...

'', and was Earle's final pure-country album before incorporating

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

with country on his next releases. It is today described by

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

as "livelier stuff than nearly anyone in Nashville was cranking out at the time".

Track listing

All songs written by Steve Earle unless otherwise noted.

Personnel

;The Dukes *

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 ...

–

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

, vocals *Steve Earle – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica *Reno Kling – bass guitar *Mike McAdam – 6- and 12-string electric guitars, vocals *Ken Moore –

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, synthesizer, vocals *

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 ...

– drums, vocals With: * John Jarvis – piano *

Emory Gordy, Jr. Emory Lee Gordy Jr. (born December 25, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter and music producer. A former member of Emmylou Harris' backing band The Hot Band, he is best known for his association with country singer Patty Loveless, to whom h ...

–

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

* Richard Bennett – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 6-string bass *K-Meaux Boudin –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

;Technical *

Chuck Ainlay Chuck Ainlay is an American record producer and audio engineer. He has worked with Mark Knopfler on much of Knopfler's solo work, in addition to some Dire Straits material. He has 4 Grammy Awards and 5 nominations. Along with Knopfler and Bob Ludw ...

– recording, mixing *Jim DeVault – front cover photography

Chart performance

References

1987 albums Steve Earle albums Albums produced by Tony Brown (record producer) Albums produced by Emory Gordy Jr. Albums produced by Richard Bennett (guitarist) MCA Records albums {{1980s-country-album-stub