Steve Earle & The Dukes and Duchess @ The O2 Academy, Glasgow, 30 May 2013

Steve Earle is back in town, woo woo, as a good friend of mine would say! However, not only that but he is in town with the Dukes and the Duchess, it was therefore a great relief when my tickets dropped through my letter box for this one. Actually, I tell a lie, again as my good friend would chide me! As we live in a technological age, my 'tickets' had to be printed off the promoters web site, not as exciting as waiting with bated breath for that magic wee envelope, but same result!

The gig was in a former cinema, The New Bedford (which replaced the United Secession Church built on this site in 1825) which added a magnificent grandeur to the proceeding but at the cost of deadening the sound, however, as I was standing in the 'second row' it wasn't an issue for me.

At 19:30 Steve Earle rather took the relatively small early crowd by surprise by approaching the mic and introducing the support act "The Mastersons", and in his introduction he made reference to the fact that he considers this current line up of the Dukes (& Duchess) to be the best he has ever had, so not much to live up to there then! The Mastersons, it turns out are Chris Masterson and his wife, Eleanor Whitmore who live in Brooklyn but hail from Texas, and they both played the stringed instruments whilst the bass was provided by Kelly Luny and the drums by Will Rigby, both long time members of the Dukes and this gave the line up an unusual look, much as if the the kids had brought their dads along to help out!

Eleanor Whitmore & Chris Masterson

The Mastersons were impressive and Chris' guitar playing was exhilarating and thrilling, whilst Eleanor Whitmore played studied and effective rhythm guitar, mandolin, violin and almost anything else with strings! These two have both been performing from a very early age, indeed, Eleanor started on the fiddle at the age of 4 whilst Chris was playing blues in Houston clubs from the age of 13! Their set consisted mainly of songs from their début album Birds Fly South and I particularly liked the live versions of Money, Time, One Word More and the title track Birds Fly South. Eleanor's voice (her mother was an opera singer and her dad a folk singer) reminded me of Susanna Hoffs' from the Bangles, which is no bad thing and Chris looked for all the world like Austin Powers with his somewhat geeky guitar poses and large black specs! All good stuff though! The harmonies between these two were also noteworthy and the interplay between the lead guitar and violin on many of the songs was a joy to listen to. I would especially like to highlight Chris's guitar playing which was never less than wonderful and was often exceptional. This guy has a talent and it is no wonder that Mr Earle has asked him to be a Duke for the time being. 

Having performed as The Mastersons, Chris and Eleanor were to take to the stage after the break as part of the Dukes and Duchess when Steve Earle came on to perform for us. It must have been difficult to step out of the limelight and 'fade' into the background as part of the band, but to their credit, these two performed both roles extremely well. The band line up was therefore the same for the second half of the show with the exception of the rabble-rousing godfather of alternative country music Mr  Steve Earle on a variety of guitars and banjo up front and centre.

Steve Earle

This part of the show kicked off with The Low Highway and we were treated to a number of tracks off the current album including Calico County, Invisible, Warren Hellman's Banjo, That All You Got? and the fabulous 21st Century Blues which starts off as follows:

"Here I am in the 21st century / I have to say it ain't as cool as I hoped it would be / No man on the moon, nobody on Mars / Where the hell is my flying car? / Ain't nothing even like a teletransporter so far. / It's hard times in the new millennium / Gettin' by on just the bare minimum / Everything to lose and nothing to spare / Going to hell and nobody cares / Ain't the future that Kennedy promised me / In the 21st century"

Steve Earle & Kelly Luny

The three-time Grammy award-winner is a magnificent storyteller and this latest cutting addition is no different. Steve grew up near San Antonio, Texas, and began learning the guitar at the early age of 11 before releasing his first EP in 1982 and following that up with his breakthrough album, Guitar Town, in 1986. He has subsequently released 13 albums and appeared in film and the America TV series Treme, written a novel, a book of short stories and a play! 

He has however, also had a chequered career and has spent time in jail for drugs and weapons offences. Then in 1994, he entered a drug treatment programme in Hendersonville, Tennessee and is now sober. Indeed, he made reference to his wilder, drinking days as an introduction to his piano playing by saying that, back then, when he drank he had delusional thoughts that he could speak Spanish, in much the same way that he now believes that he can play piano! 

As the show rolled on the band played a variety of songs from Steve's impressive back catalogue and we were treated to, amongst others, the wonderful My Old Friend the Blues, The Revolution Starts Now, Galway Girl, Copperhead Road, Continental Trailways Blues, and a cover of the Rolling Stones' Mothers Little Helper. Each song was performed with great feeling and commitment and it was clear that this version of the Dukes (& Duchess) are enjoying their time together immensely.

Eleanor, Chris & Kelly

So, after an exhilarating 1 hour and 45 minutes the band left the stage and with some well earned enthusiastic chanting from the audience they returned for the first of two encores which lasted a further 30 minutes at the end of which they played Ain't Ever Satisfied which seemed like a fitting ending to a great night and many of the audience shared that sentiment with regards to not having heard enough of this fabulous version of Steve Earle and The Dukes (& Duchess)! 

The Dukes & Duchess with Steve Earle

This is one act I try to catch whenever they are in town, and over the years, having seen a number of line ups and Steve performing solo, I have to say that, like a good wine (perhaps a wholly unfitting analogy)  he just gets better and better with age. It is little wonder that his songs have been recorded by Joan Baez, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, The Pretenders, Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt,  Emmylou Harris to name but a few!