Steve Earle to Release New Waylon-Esque Album “So You Wanna Be An Outlaw”

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As first reported by Saving Country Music in January, Steve Earle’s newest album will be called So You Wanna Be An Outlaw, and feature an appearance by Willie Nelson on the title track. The album is said to be unabashedly inspired by Waylon Jennings and the other original country music Outlaws, and will also feature appearances by Miranda Lambert, and original “Whiskey River” writer, Johnny Bush.

“I moved to Nashville in November of 1974, and right after that Willie Nelson’s ‘Red Headed Stranger’ came out,” Earle says, who makes an appearance as a young man in Guy Clark’s kitchen in the Outlaw country documentary, Heartworn Highways. “I was around when Waylon was recording ‘Dreaming My Dreams.’ ‘Guitar Town’ wound up being kind of my version of those types of songs.”

Earle is joined on the album by his backing band The Dukes, and he recorded the project in Austin. Along with the 12 tracks of So You Wanna Be An Outlaw, a deluxe edition will include four additional iconic songs from the Outlaw era: “Ain’t No God in Mexico” by Billy Joe Shaver, “Sister’s Coming Home”/”Down at the Corner Beer Joint” and “The Local Memory” by Willie Nelson, and “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” by Waylon Jennings.

steve-earle-the-dukes-so-you-wanna-be-an-outlaw“I was out to unapologetically ‘channel’ Waylon as best as I could,” Earle says about the album. “This record was all about me playing on the back pick-up of a ’66 Fender Telecaster on an entire record for the first time in my life.”

No, that’s not a pickup truck Earle is referring too, it’s the hot twang first evidenced in Bakersfield country, and adopted by the Outlaws in the 70’s when they reigned supreme. So You Wanna Be An Outlaw will be released June 16th via Warner Bros. Records, and Steve will launch a summer tour in support of the album.

TRACK LIST:

  1. “So You Wannabe an Outlaw” (feat. Willie Nelson)
  2. “Lookin’ for a Woman”
  3. “The Firebreak Line”
  4. “News From Colorado”
  5. “If Mama Coulda Seen Me”
  6. “Fixin’ to Die”
  7. “This Is How It Ends” (feat. Miranda Lambert)
  8. “The Girl on the Mountain”
  9. “You Broke My Heart”
  10. “Walkin’ in LA” (feat. Johnny Bush)
  11. “Sunset Highway”
  12. “Goodbye Michelangelo”

Deluxe Edition bonus tracks:

  • “Ain’t No God in Mexico” (Billy Joe Shaver)
  • “Sister’s Coming Home”/”Down at the Corner Beer Joint” (Willie Nelson)
  • “The Local Memory” (Willie Nelson)
  • “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” (Waylon Jennings)

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