Outlaw country got out of jail for free, on Thursday night in Prince George. Steve Earle is the sergeant-at-arms for the gang of country music antiheroes. Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson are the surviving outlaw princes, but Earle is at their side with his blow-your-wig-off rock sound infused with his farm dirt authentic brand of country.
When Earle lays down Copperhead Road then shifts gears to the wrenching My Old Friend The Blues and delves over to the small-town anthem Someday, then dekes between Irish-tinged shantysong Galway Girl and a trio of New Orleans barfly numbers he wrote for the HBO show Treme, you get a sense of his versatility.
Earle played for more than two hours, and was called back for two encores, and still missed a couple of audience favourites like The Other Kind and Transcendental Blues. But he is one of those rare artists that can unload some unfamiliar work on the crowd and the fans are happy to go there with him. He is not confined by his hits nor by his politics.
He actually has something to say, and he doesn't want to belittle his fans by avoiding their attention with inane banter. He was up front about his concert at Vanier Hall being in temporary jeopardy because there was no way he would cross the teachers' picket line into a school facility without their consent. It was given. And he expressed his clear support for the teachers' position.
Not that everything was pastoral and pristine at the show. There were a couple of sound glitches, some obnoxious fans, and Earle admitted at one point he had blown the intro to a song and started it over again. Human failings kind of stuff. It's actually endearing to experience that.
Earle also doesn't enunciate clearly, sometimes, which is made all the more puzzling when he lets the voice ring out. He has a unique and strong vocal quality, it's too bad he resorts to mumbles on occasion. But boy can he sing when he chooses to, and he has a boyish smile that tells you he's still having fun up there. It's a disarming quality.
This is the second time in three years Steve Earle has been to Prince George and gathered strong audience numbers. It may be awhile before we see him again in these parts, but if he does come back our way, expect another full commitment from a true outlaw on the run.
Earle wasn't the only one in the Vanier Hall spotlight Thursday.
Truthfully, The Mastersons were the ones who put in the longest hours. In addition to being two members of The Dukes at Steve Earle's side during his marathon performance, they also did the opening act themselves.
It's an easy decision, if you're Steve Earle, to make the most out of this talented wife-husband team. Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore can each play a number of instruments, they have impeccable timing and taste in their moments of collaboration, and they have the same songwriting sensibility at which Earle is a journeyman.
For a mere twosome on the stage, they certainly carry some entertainment weight. She in her bouncy curls and he in his horn-rimmed glasses, both dressed like they are on the way to a sock-hop, they don't look like a force of nature. Then Whitmore opens her mouth and notes come ringing out like they travelled from her toes and stopped in to visit Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton before hurtling into our ears.
Masterson, meanwhile, plays the almost unnoticed sweeper of complementary layers over her lead vocals, but if you focus on him, he is singing with surgical skill and then he takes a lead himself and you can't mistake the blade he also carries in his voice.
They said nice things about the tour and perhaps coming back to P.G. on their own. I hope they do, and I hope they have a couple of big ol' hits first, because they'd be fun to have over for an audience singalong to their own songs.
