Behind The Vinyl: "Copperhead Road" with Steve Earle

[@fiddlefolk]

I got Steve Earle's guitar town and Dire Strait's Money for Nothing cassettes for Christmas ...Being a panhandle, west Texas boy on a farm, I could relate to them both. I still listen to both these great records 30 plus yrs later.

[@dontrushme2112]

Steve is one of the greatest and most underrated song writers in my opinion.

[@charlesbolton8471]

James clark Copperhead Road was NOT his only hit! I will certainly admit that he has had no mainstream country songs since the Copperhead Road album. One thing is for sure he has always made the music he wants to make and that is something to be admired.

[@mma1st105]

Joe Kinchicken wtf are you watching this? He's always stood up for what he believes in and puts his money where his mouth is.

[@charlesbolton8471]

mma 1st I think he wants to make sure the rest of us know that Steve is a “LIBERAL”. Well, anyone who has listened to the music he has released since the 90s already knows that and most of us who have been fans since the 80s knew it in the 80s.

[@clancykobane9102]

and he knows that!

[@roddreeguz2059]

Love Steve. Lotsa talent, but never heard him bring up politix at any show i went to, even though i expected it. Im sure he wants to get out alive.

[@jessewoo3838]

Copperhead Road is a great album, never gets old

[@mostdeadlygeist]

man this channel doesn't get the respect it should. this is a great series.

[@Gunslinger1875]

That song is American treasure. Thank you everytime you sing it!

[@dommirra5429]

Love Steve Earle! What a talent!! Saw him live recently & had the pleasure to meet him & he is a great guy took a picture with him & he gave me his autograph on a magazine with his picture on the cover!! Really meant alot to me! I want to see him live again his band was so good and the Mastersons are wonderful awesomely talented!! Excellent top-notch show Steve Earle has not lost anything if anything he's better than ever keep on rockin brother!!!!🤠✌🎙🎸ps. Please come back to Penn's Peak Jim Thorpe PA. soon bro!!!! Pennsylvania is crazy about Steve Earle and the Dukes!!!!!!!!!

[@amerocker]

"I still play this song, pretty much every night cuz I wanna get out of there alive." Steve Earle, American musician poet

[@keithgrimes9622]

He's right. If he didn't play that one, it'd be pitchforks and flaming torches outside the tour bus!

[@michaelelliot2966]

I'll share this story with yous me and my dad saw him at this school that I used to attend and a couple of songs into the show I felt sorry for him because there were a couple of hecklers in the audience shouting out for him to play certain songs like Snake Oil and this one one of which I knew that he would get to it eventually but I truly felt sorry for him for having to put up with that

[@jamesoconnor8044]

I'm proud to have created the artwork for this great album. Steve is an amazing talent !

[@Harlanmote]

Guitar Town is one of the best written country song’s ever... It takes you into the world of a traveling country band.,, A two pack habit and motel tan !!! Just brilliant...

[@garylindsey5174]

It needs to be re-released or something. To many people have never heard of "Guitar Town". One of my favorites!

[@danieldoucet9121]

@@garylindsey5174 It has "racist " lyrics so the Woke probably won't allow it.

[@sidnac6545]

​@@danieldoucet9121yeah the original recording of the song referred to his "Jap guitar" but on subsequent releases it was changed to "cheap guitar"

[@lwkiesel1085]

I love that song i still remember that rumbling sound

[@simonfreer9076]

love these videos. and I really dig steve earle. and seeing him clean, still, is awesome. that last sentence..........

[@codzeedeedee5990]

Classic song.....still sounds good!

[@nov20five]

Thank you for doing this series! Great way to learn the stories behind the songs. And these are some great songs!

[@MrZiggy019]

Steve's masterpiece !!!!!

[@bodarville7860]

It's a classic song and I love it thank you for giving it life.

[@bamcleod-aster8060]

love it,,,the story behind the story,,,,thank you steve earle,,,,,!!!

[@triciaoneal141]

I have loved Steve Earle from the beginning but it wasn't until I was a DJ for parties and weddings that I learned how much people (men and women) appreciated him after Copperhead Road came out. It was one of the most asked for songs. Of course, I had to throw in a couple others from the same cd and a few others in my collection.

[@bherrin67]

Love Steve Earl and his music. I don’t get why he’s underrated, he’s f-Ing genius!

[@denniscallahan6005]

The man... The myth... The legend

[@aldophogasperi6528]

"I crashed a cocktail party"

[@denniscallahan6005]

Steve was at an open mic in NASHVILLE and only me and another Songwriter knew who he was ... He's just all about the song God bless his heart.

[@donniecastleman5701]

Thanks for mentioning Joe Hardy, what a brilliant engineer and a heck of a nice guy! :)

[@tonylittle2744]

Early 80s, my first run with the Club. Sitting round the fire, bikes all around, drinking beer and listening to Copperhead Road blaring out of the Beer Tent. Great memories.

[@jimiverson4831]

That's quite remarkable, considering Copperhead Road didn't come out until 1988...

[@dustinglover9066]

The town is Elizabethton, Tennessee. You can find the real Copperhead Rd in Johnson County.

[@MArnoldTN1]

Steve never lets the truth get in the way of a good story.

[@moparedtn]

Yup, been there done that, out the other side of Hampton.

[@alleyoop4465]

@J Dial nope, I drive past Copperhead Rd. twice a day every day. It intersects Hwy 33 (Thunder Rd.) In Maynardville TN.

[@mc12358]

Thanks for clarifying. I've been to Elizabethton and eaten at Greg's Pizza (aka Greasy Greg's). Wonderful little place with good friends and good times. There is an Elizabeth City in North Carolina, but it is about as far away from the mountains as it could be without actually being in the ocean 🙂

[@lisabecom9294]

Renamed Copperhead Hollow Rd now because locals got tired of their road signs getting stolen.

[@BauthorFowler]

I was beginning to worry that these videos weren't being made anymore. I almost wrote a comment saying "I'm sorry for bitching about the Sultans of swing video, I'm so sorry! Please bring it back, you can have Stu Jefferies or whatever djs you want, you could have the janitor or the mail person, just bring back behind the vinyl... And then you not only bring it back, you bring it back with Steve Earle... God love your cotton socks.

[@bretmoore6828]

Awesome song. One of my go-to songs for karaoke. My family came from the holler, coal miners and moonshiners, so it holds a special place in my heart.

[@winstontk]

Another excellent episode. Like all of them!

[@mjuhanil]

hell ya, it's about time you got Copperhead

[@michaelelliot2966]

I'll share this story with yous me and my dad saw him at this school that I used to attend and a couple of songs into the show I felt sorry for him because there were a couple of hecklers in the audience shouting out for him to play certain songs like Snake Oil and this one one of which I knew that he would get to it eventually but I truly felt sorry for him for having to put up with that

[@bucklaker3980]

Love the song!!

[@visearms5774]

Seen him live before - amazing.

[@mrsb4277]

Such a cool storyteller! 👍🏼👍🏼

[@fivecitydirttracker4776]

Thanks Steve. Played it when I saw ya.

[@carlislecrasher]

I was always wondering how he was inspired to make that song happen.

[@joedinkel2107]

Yea he is a classic legend no doubt

[@jhonhall928]

Something that you love. Beats the pizza shop. Keep creating Earl.

[@jenniferharrell7818]

Loved him since I was a kid!!

[@Doodlebug1996]

Steve is a great guy. I backlined for him at a festival im fredricton Canada. Really nice genuine guy

[@DJDouglasWarden]

Gotta love that last statement.

[@davedavid7061]

I appreciate him playing the song live. Too many bands wont play the song that made them famous because they're sick of it

[@leighhoran8445]

Steves awesome, dire straits on a different level than other bands of their time and genre, used steel guitar also

[@ronniejdio9411]

Should make this song into a netflix series

[@jonathannovak5961]

That's a damn good idea.😁👍🇺🇸

[@alleyoop4465]

Justified

[@ronniejdio9411]

@@alleyoop4465 damn good show. But the outlaws are heros in this song

[@alleyoop4465]

@@ronniejdio9411 you tellin me you wouldn't have rather been Boyd Crowder than Raylan Givens. Come on now.

[@ronniejdio9411]

@@alleyoop4465 yea. They made boud a serial killer in tje last 3 episodes to character assassinate him because he had ushered raylon as the hero. Shit Copper head road on nextflix 2021 staring walter goggins and lucas black and cc pounder

[@tvamp88]

Great song Steve 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@scottieray]

There's songs that resonate with you if you live in certain places in America. "Copperhead Road" did because where I grew up in SEMO and NEA people were living this song. To me, it's not even fiction. A more recent song, "Livin' Next to Leroy", by Ashley McBride is another great song in the vein of "Copperhead Road". Sounds made up but I know people who live/lived that life.

[@kyliepollert8341]

I've loved it ever since I had it on the 2 CD compilation "Goin' South", which I got for Christmas years ago, but I find it strange that this was never a country hit, yet reached #10 on the Mainstream Rock chart. I've always classified it as "country rock"

[@valeriegarrity5773]

It's a ballad! Tells a true story of survival in the Appalachia.

[@kyliepollert8341]

@@valeriegarrity5773 I thought it told a story of a soldier who returns home from Vietnam, and starts illegally selling marijuana. Copperhead Road is a real road in east Tennessee, where moonshine was made and grown, according to Songfacts.

[@valeriegarrity5773]

@@kyliepollert8341 that's the "rest of the story!" Lol!

[@Mr.56Goldtop]

Yeah, he's sick of it. But we aren't!

[@davidbrumbaugh7809]

To say all of that in the time frame of the song...

[@ericfloyd9917]

A Real Outlaw! That's my boy!

[@ronboxhall7716]

I wish you had have made more like this I have this as my phone ring my name is Donna thank you I'm from Tasmania

[@music9556]

i have the cd

[@kirkgarst6008]

Were the Clips with Tom Berenger in the video from an actual movie he was in?

[@carportchronicles1943]

I love this song. It came out when I was going to the U.S. Navy's journalism school at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. I used to play the cassette in an AM/FM cassette radio I installed in a motorcycle tank bag, and mounted on the 650 Honda I owned at the time. The music on that cassette provided great accompaniment to my weekend rides on the back roads of southern Indiana. Thank you Steve for helping to make some great memories.

[@pammccrary7915]

Did you ever record bagpipes for Copperhead road later? Thank you for this song and your music.

[@ryandeanlindgren9054]

cool!

[@richeaton7436]

Steve. Buddy. Elizbethton is in east TN(my home town), not North Carolina. Elizabethton is in Carter Co., which is just next to Johnson Co.(Sheriff painted on the side), TN. Which, is also where Butler Gold weed was grown in the 70s. Memory fades

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

Elizabeth City is in North Carolina

[@richeaton7436]

@@truckerkevthepaidtourist Not to be confused with Elizabethtown, NC, south of Fayetteville.

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

@@richeaton7436 cars being the fact it's just a song you never really know it's not based on a true story it's just a fable.. baby names are changed to protect the innocent..lol I mean he bought it at the Masons Lodge on even if the Masons are big out there...

[@richeaton7436]

@@truckerkevthepaidtourist My Grandad was in the Mason's and Grandmother was in the Eastern Star. lol Late 80s, Steve was coming thru Johnson City,TN and being interviewed on the radio. My ex heard it and relayed it to me. The story he told then, was that he was drinking in a bar, and talking to a woman from Mountain City,TN, that was when the seed was planted. Which would make sense, in Mountain City, which is near Elizabethton, TN, and in Johnson County, there is Copperhead Hollow Rd., and the area has the reputation of being just what is described the tune, shiners converted to weed. Roll on. lol

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

@@richeaton7436 that sounds about right it's a story based on lore from what people have heard.. but the other people that are just throwing it completely out of proportion as usual is what makes me roll my eyes.. it's like willin from Lowell George and Little feat he never drove a truck from Tucson to tucumcari tehachapi or Tonopah. what he did though was back in the day before he formed Little feat and got kicked out of Frank Zappa's mothers of invention he worked at a truck-stop as a pump jockey. and they used to hear all the drivers coming from all over into California telling stories and cracking jokes and that's how willin was born.. so he has given the fact that a lot of people down in the back woods what it from Cheyenne to weed and more from Nam era again it's a story that he put together a song by.. again it's a story he was drinking in a bar who knows if it's true or not..

[@hotelbastard7853]

Eclectic, no doubt.

[@k.g.alatore355]

Kurt Custer replaced Artimus Pyle in Lynyrd Skynyrd a couple years later. Fucking bomb-ass drummer.

[@kennethayers5624]

Elizabethton TN, not NC..

[@alleyoop4465]

eliZ a beTH Ton

[@patrickjordan6710]

As a teacher I used some of Steve's dong in class to generate discussions. Particularly "Billy Austin". I even had a student turn it into rap song! I met Steve and told him about this.....he couldn't have given less shits...about me(a die hard fan who has seen him numerous times), my use of his songs in the class or what his music meant to me. I have been in the right place at the right time to meet other musicians I admire(and never went out of my way to meet them)...Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Gregg Allman, Peter Buck, Neil Young, Warren Haynes, Bruce Springsteen.....each of them were very cool and the experience was really great. Steve "man of the people socialist" was a dick(I too am a die hard liberal activist). Maybe I ran into him on a bad day...who knows.

[@sixsentsoldiers]

Patrick Jordan - Probably Not.

[@Harlanmote]

There all dicks..,some just hide it better than others...

[@darlincommitme]

I have heard fan stories about Steve that were very positive and ones like yours. I think he is quite moody and if you catch him when he was tired or depressed he can be a jerk. I have also seen him getting down to talk to a kid at a show.

[@jamesripley6712]

Just saw him a couple of weeks ago on the Copperhead Road 30th tour . Awesome stories about making the album . Totally blew the roof off the Jube

[@jeffkenny9448]

Everybody has their bad days. I have mine. I've met Steve dozens of times, he's usually very friendly and enthusiastic. The few times when I sense he's a bit moody or tired, well I leave him alone. You can't expect (creative types especially) people to be "On" all the time. I'll give you a hint though, if you had booze on your breath from the show, you aren't going to be very appealing to him, and he's not going to want to have you in his face. Just sayin'.

[@Youropinionmatterslittle]

*Elizabethtown NC.

[@shelster9967]

“I stil play this song every night....because I wanna get out of there alive.” HAHAHAHA Steve is the fucking man.

[@donniecastleman5701]

Joe Hardy rocks! :)

[@lorenpearce2929]

Elizabethton tennessee s. Earl you sould remember that poga n. C. Come on thks

[@lorenpearce2929]

Poga tn and nc. Sorry. Loten pearce

[@scottrobbins6216]

Merica ...... in a song

[@BauthorFowler]

I wonder if anyone CAN play that intro on actual, non digital bagpipes.

[@mattm597]

Looks like Scalia with a beard. :-)

[@clancykobane9102]

How much is the LP worth?

fi fiddy fi.

[@yeager1888]

Bonafide Classic whole lp

[@tbz1551]

4:25 Hear that Thom?

[@GangsterAssRick]

Ive been looking for this for years without even knowing it lol

[@bobbailey5072]

Great series. Great Artist. Was he a little cooked? Not judging.

[@stevevice4991]

I quoted some lyrics from "Copperhead Road" on fartbook the other day and it got me a warning and the comment was deleted by facebarf.

[@peteytwofinger]

those digital sounding bag pipes Always bother me . CASIO road .

[@wyokaiju992]

Well, they ain't bagpipes is why, lol

I'm not a man crush kinda guy....but if I was....

[@imannonymous7707]

The sad thing is that he hates the song ...he plays it first at his shows, to get it out of the way. Ive heard him say he barley recognizes that guy anymore His songs today show no resemblance to this classic A very important songwriter, in that outlaw country circle. Dudes like willie ,johnny,kris ,and his mentor townes

[@doublestrokeroll]

Here that people? Digital Tape. Digital recording. Sounds "warm" doesn't it? Yeah....it's NOT the medium, it's the process. Well actually, given that digital is superior to analog in terms of noise floor, technically it is the medium, but all I'm saying is, ambiguous things like "warmth" are nothing more than listener bias. Or at best some tape "hiss" that can be added in in post if that's the sound you like.

[@JayLeePoe]

yeah country music went the way of "negative content" versus ad revenue sales; they stopped playing sad songs on corporate radio because it was bad for $$. That's also the same reason Mtv stopped being MusicTv; advertisers were wary of the programming being in abnormal blocks. Behavior has to include plenty of people only watching for their particular song or until they're satisfied and then leave the station, thus they began the slow decay of Reality Television... because they sure as fuck didn't employ many writers, they outright stole Daria from their ownership of Beavis & Butthead material through Mike Judge.

[@gaskan666]

Copperhead Road is a great album, never gets old

[@brazenlilhussy5975]

That's the thing with good art that manages to 'connect' it ages like fine wine. Imagine if they actually gave this record the play it deserved? But according to the Nashville 'suits' decided Steve was doing HIS ART wrong!😒 if I didn't already know how insular and out of touch the suits were at that time cos of their dealings with Killer and Townes it would've shocked me. I know Steve built his own success but we're talking about literal 'superstardom' here..and every country artist down the line could've eaten for a bit if Nashville wasn't so steadfast in their belief of what's 'wrong'. Truly amazing short-sighted bullshit.

[@jessewoo3838]

Copperhead Road is a great album, never gets old

[@ryanodonnell6748]

I love this song and so does my 9yr old Girl. I travel thru each Friday from Glasgow to Edinburgh to pick her up for the Weekend and this song is on our Motorway Playlist... As long as Bad Company merchants of cool.. I swear my 9 Yr old has some taste in music. Rock on and love from Glasgow

[@KellyK387]

He’s punk rock more than country this guy doesn’t take crap off anyone love his sirius show

[@GODOFDUTY141]

Listening to copperhead road over and over again and I knew there was an actual story behind it! I'm glad I found this video

[@billeemusic]

Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed it !!

[@kurtdahle]

Not a break in the story, what a great teller

[@SlitherWhisp]

Guitar Town, Exit 0, and Copperhead Road are a holy trinity of music for me. Amazing stuff.

[@MrHillbilly49]

I remember the first time I heard this song and went "holy shit, listen to that!!!" I went out and bought the album right away. Twenty years later, some of my buddies who claim to be country music fans JUST discovered Steve and this song.

[@shyman99]

Tough to zero in on his talking when my mind wants to continually drift into ecstasy yet again by listening to this amazing song.

[@jhonhall928]

Every song has a story. Every story has a song.

[@maryjerrolds1588]

Love this

[@kyledoxstader2731]

"Still pretty country" I linedanced to it at my sisters wedding.

[@MArnoldTN1]

Love most of Steve's music but I'm most grateful he signed and recorded The V-Roys (Scott Miller, Mic Harrison) from Knoxville in the 90's.

[@jlarrybrewer1149]

Saw those guys many many times in Knoxville back in the day. Started seeing them when they were still called "The Viceroys"

[@juiceybrucey3475]

One of the best songs ever!

[@hanson2205]

Steve Earle Awesome 3 Tool Talent Vocalist / Guitar Player / Song Writer and GOAT Recognize H.O.F. Member Love Him with his best song CopperHead Road

[@Yeakerr]

When I can't sleep at night I put copperhead road on in a loop love the song the video where the old guy driving down the road reminded me of my dad a hard drinking fast driving man and I grew up in the 50s .

[@jobertoli256]

Tennessee is famous for the walking horses tobacco whiskey and moonshine now you know the rest of the story...

[@feilvfhedgardofml3534]

It’s about the South. The song and sound reeks of Southern. Deo Vindice. Should make this song into a netflix series

[@toddkelly6181]

RIP Joe Hardy...

[@petermontagnon4440]

Great song, Great artist!!!

[@ROOKTABULA]

8 downvotes from people with too much penis their ears

[@eckteckteckk171]

Im your fan since 1989.At the tender age of 9.Thanks Steve for your awesome music \M/

[@carlhicksjr8401]

As he put it in another interview, 'You never get sick of the song that bought your house'... :-)

[@WiIdbiII]

My little sister made sure that Steve Earle music was part of her wedding reception .

[@pete5534]

Joe Hardy is a musical legend. RIP.