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Mar 4, 1999 I saw Steve Earle with the Del McCoury Band (a traditional bluegrass band) on Sessions at W 52nd' on PBS the night before last. It was quite excellent. Steve fit in amazingly well with the fairly straight bluegrass sound, and his solo songs, just him on guitar, harp and vocal, were very affecting. He was not afraid to make a scathing comment about Nashville- That new country radio sucks because it doesn't have any killing in it, then proceeded to do a trad. song about a guy who can't go on living if some girl won't marry him. He also prefaced Ellis Unit#1 (from the Dead Man Walking Soundtrack) with an insightful commentary about capital punishment, and discussed his involvement in MAJIC (Mothers Against Jesse (Helms) In Congress), and his reasons - Jesse's lack of human compassion for AIDS victims. He was lucid, involving and the music was great. After the show I listened to "The Hard Way", in which he rocks out, from his pre-prison period, albums which most fans say aren't as good as his post-prison/herion addiction period. Well, I enjoyed it a lot. He also has a couple of very good ballads on that record.Granted,there are a couple of clunkers where there are gospel choirs backing him for inexplicable reasons, but all-in-all I found myself very impressed by his ability to excel at several styles of music.