Track Listing

1. Texas Eagle
2. Your Forever Blue
3. Carrie Brown
4. I'm Still in Love With You
5. Graveyard Shift
6. Harlan Man
7. Mountain
8. Outlaw's Honeymoon
9. Connemara Breakdown
10. Leroy's Dustbowl Blues
11. Dixieland
12. Paddy on the Beat
13. Long, Lonesome Highway Blues
14. Pilgrim

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12879 in Music
• Released on: 2009-01-20
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com's Best of 1999
When country-rock icon Steve Earle teamed with blazing bluegrass act the Del McCoury Band, the result was more invigoratingly intense than even die-hard fans could have imagined. These energetic songs somehow sound innovative and timeless at the same time, merging the finest, first-person-narrated politico tunes of Springsteen or Dylan with the plaintive, hard-driving mountain wails of the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe. Whew. --Mike McGonigal

Amazon.com essential recording
Even if it does begin with a jokey incantation of the Mickey Mouse theme song ("M-I-C-K-E-Y..."), The Mountain is Steve Earle's most traditional album, pairing country rock's most notorious miscreant with the best working band in bluegrass. Earle was inspired by a chance meeting with the late bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, and this is his self-declared stab at musical immortality. It is easy to imagine these 14 songs sounding as good 40 years from now as they do today. The mood varies widely from triple-time breakdowns to bluesy shuffles to meditative waltzes, but there's not a missed note or strained chorus anywhere. As Earle states at the outset, "If you want to be in the band, you have to put your hat on," and the one he's wearing, at least figuratively, is 10 gallon-plus. --Keith Moerer

New York Times
The Mountain ... is an art project in denim and work boots, a self-conscious effort by Earle to pay homage to the bluegrass pantheon if not enter it.

Customer Reviews

Steve Earle's Bluegrass Gem
In his liner notes, Steve Earle says his primary motive for writing the songs on this album (he wrote all 14 tracks) was an attempt at immortality. His stated hope was that at least one of these songs would be performed at every bluegrass festival in the world "long after I have followed Mr. Bill (Monroe) of this world." After giving this album several listens, I'd say he won't have to worry about that.

This is one of Earle's finest albums and very much in the vein of his 1995 album Train a Comin'. This time out he hooks up with the Del McCoury Band, simply one of the best bluegrass outfits playing today--check out their excellent 1996 album The Cold Hard Facts for further proof.

There isn't a weak track on this album. But if I were to pick a single highlight it would be the closing track, the confessional and mournful "Pilgrim" with its all-star vocal harmony cast (Emmlou Harris, Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, John Hartford, Peter Rowan, et. al.). Overall, this is an honest and sincere record from an artist who deserves to reach a wider audience. Unfortunately, even the best bluegrass albums are lucky to sell a hundred thousand units. Let's hope it doesn't keep him from putting out another bluegrass album. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Album of the year!
When my brother called me and asked me to drive to Nashville to see Steve Earle & the Del McCoury Band in concert at the Station Inn, I had no idea what I was in for. I read many reviews of this CD and they were all very favorable, yet I had never heard any of the music. I sat there shell-shocked with a slack jawed expresion on my face that turned into the biggest ear-to-ear grin I've ever had on my face. The performance going on in front of me was something of legend. A tiny little hole-in-the-wall full of smoke and stale beer, came alive with music that truly elated my soul. I promptly ran out and bought this CD, along with several other Del McCoury Band CDs. Steve Earle and Del deserve Album of the Year from the Grammy organization for this ground breaking blend of roots bluegrass and raw rock and roll. One shining moment from the show that will always stick out in my mind was when Iris DeMent stood on stage with Steve & Del and literally stupefied the audience with her powerful voice. You will play this album for years to come.

The Best Bluegrass CD In Years
Earle actually precedes this musical set with a written eulogy in the liner notes, speaking of the legendary Bill Monroe and Earle's own innate desire to please the master. He has transcended that, I'm fairly certain, with this exquisite set of his own compositions and lyrics.

Bluegrass is simply an art form...exceptional artists possessing extraordinary skill, writing, interpreting, and translating music that appeals because of its basic purity and "down-to-earth" originality. We will listen and recall times gone by because when we hear it, it reminds us of a place and time...a small town celebration...something that we heard as a kid... it reminds us of our grandpa's era...we can almost feel it, smell it, touch it...it's Americana. Once we take a closer look, the scope of bluegrass music today even becomes quite broad, especially over the past couple of decades, past the traditionalist's boundaries that once confined it, into modern times where stellar musicians cling to the roots of the past while forging ahead into uncharted territory. But all too often the past is forgotten. Not this time.

Steve Earle has filled the bill admirably on all accounts. He has successfully bridged the past to the present. Most of his songs sound as if they've been around for quite a long time but they are performed exquisitely and with a refreshing approach. He has captured Americana past with "Texas Eagle", "Leroy's Dustbowl Blues", and the Civil War period melody of "Dixieland", which remarkably, could have been written 130 years ago without anyone's knowing different. There are also love songs such as "Carrie Brown" and "I'm Still In Love With You". There are blue collar anthems like the excellent beat driven "Harlan Man". And, with ballads like "The Mountain" and "Pilgrim" to Steve's credit, he has produced a masterpiece of song and word. He also could not have found a better band to join him in this project. Here's hoping that Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band will continue this union and offer a follow up to "The Mountain"; it can't miss.