The State Theatre Presents & WXPN Welcomes
Steve Earle - 51 Years of Songs & Stories
with special guest Chris Pierce
- Sponsored By
Steve Earle is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation. A protege of legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he quickly became a master storyteller in his own right, with his songs being recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, The Pretenders, and countless others. 1986 saw the release of his record, Guitar Town, which shot to number one on the country charts and is now regarded as a classic of the Americana genre. Most recently, Earle’s 1988 hit Copperhead Road was made an official state song of Tennessee in 2023.
Subsequent releases like The Revolution Starts…Now (2004), Washington Square Serenade (2007), and TOWNES (2009) received consecutive GRAMMY® Awards. Jerry Jeff, released in 2022, consisted of Earle’s versions of songs written by Jerry Jeff Walker, one of his mentors.
Earle has published both a novel I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2011) and Dog House Roses, a collection of short stories (Houghton Mifflin 2003).
Earle produced albums for other artists such as Joan Baez (Day After Tomorrow) and Lucinda Williams (Car Wheels on A Gravel Road).
As an actor, Earle has appeared in several films and had recurring roles in the HBO series The Wire and Tremé. In 2009, Earle appeared in the off-Broadway play Samara, for which he also wrote a score that The New York Times described as “exquisitely subliminal.” Earle wrote music for and appeared in Coal Country, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Earle is the host of the weekly show Hard Core Troubadour on Sirius Radio’s Outlaw Country channel.
In 2020, Earle was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. And in 2023, Steve was honored by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music. Steve’s latest album, “Alone Again (Live)”, released on July 12th, 2024. Most recently, Steve was honored with an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry and was officially inducted on September 17th, 2025.
Chris Pierce has been a singular voice in American roots music for more than two decades. Over the course of eight solo albums, many side projects, and more guest appearances than most could do in one lifetime, his powerful songs have given voice to the voiceless and shed light into dark and hidden corners of the American dream.
Pierce’s newest record, Songs For The Heavy Hearted, captures moments in the lives of everyday people as they struggle with crisis and encapsulates everything that has been so powerful about his music to date.
At its core, Songs For The Heavy Hearted is a diary of — and love letter to — freedom fighters everywhere; its constant refrain is that love, joy, hope, and softness are not things we need to sacrifice to fight the good fight. In fact, they are integral.
As Pierce explains, “Even as we refuse to take our rights for granted, it’s getting harder to find a little bit of light to keep us going. Whatever happens, we have to find a way to count our blessings and seek liberty for ourselves and fight for the liberty of others.”
These are lessons Pierce learned early on. Growing up in an interracial household when his parents’ marriage still wasn’t recognized as legal in 16 states, he witnessed a cross burned on his front lawn as a child. “I held optimism near to my heart, even with the stuff we went through as a family, we never gave way to despair.”
When he was 15 and developed a rare hearing disorder called Otosclerosis that led to total hearing loss (before a surgery that regained partial hearing in one ear), he did not back down. “That could have been it for me, but instead I learned resilience,” Pierce says. “I turned a crisis into a superpower. It’s what you have to do.”
With supporting performances from Allison Russell, Steve Earle, Grey DeLisle, and Garrison Starr, Songs For The Heavy Hearted embodies the belief that ‘we shall overcome’ and the sentiment has never sounded more uplifting and within reach.
Over decades of touring, Pierce has performed as both a headliner and sought-after support act alongside Neil Young, B.B. King, Al Green, Steve Earle, Seal, Aaron Neville, Jill Scott, Allison Russell, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and many others. Pierce has appeared on NPR’s World Cafe, Mountain Stage, American Folk Show and has had performances at Newport Folk Festival, AmericanaFest, Folk Alliance, MerleFest, Bottlerock, Calgary Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival, and more.
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