In 1974, at the age of 19, Earle moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and began working blue-collar jobs during the day and playing music at night.
During this period Earle wrote songs and played bass guitar in Guy Clark's band and sang on Clark's 1975 album Old No.
 1.
Earle appeared in the 1975 film Heartworn Highways, a documentary on the Nashville music scene which included David Allan Coe, Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt and Rodney Crowell.
Earle lived in Nashville for several years and assumed the position of staff songwriter at the publishing company Sunbury Dunbar.
Later Earle grew tired of Nashville and returned to Texas where he started a band called The Dukes.

In the 1980s, Earle returned to Nashville once again and worked as a songwriter for the publishers Roy Dea and Pat Carter.
A song he co-wrote, "When You Fall in Love", was recorded by Johnny Lee and made number 14 on the country charts in 1982.
Carl Perkins recorded Earle's song "Mustang Wine", and two of his songs were recorded by Zella Lehr.
Later Dea and Carter created an independent record label called LSI and invited Earle to begin recording his own material on their label.
Connie Smith recorded Earle's composition "A Far Cry from You" in 1985 which reached a minor position on the country charts as well.

Earle released an EP called, Pink & Black, in 1982 featuring the Dukes.
Acting as Earle's manager, John Lomax "sent the EP to Epic Records," and they "signed Earle" to a recording contract in 1983.
In 1983, Earle signed a record deal with CBS and recorded a "neo-rockabilly album".

After losing his publishing contract with Dea and Carter, Earle met producer Tony Brown and after severing his ties with Lomax and Epic Records obtained a seven-record deal with MCA Records.
Earle released his first full-length album, Guitar Town, on MCA Records in 1986.
The title track became a Top Ten single in 1986 and his song "Goodbye's All We've Got Left" reached the Top Ten in 1987.
That same year he released a compilation of earlier recordings entitled, Early Tracks, and an album with the Dukes, called Exit 0, which "received critical acclaim" for its blend of country and rock.

Earle released Copperhead Road on Uni Records in 1988 which was characterized as "a quixotic project that mixed a lyrical folk tradition with hard rock and eclectic Irish influences such as The Pogues, who guested on the record".
The album's title track portrays a Vietnam veteran who uses his family background in running moonshine to become a marijuana grower/seller.
It was Earle's highest-peaking song to date in the United States and has sold 1.1 million digital copies there as of September 2017.
Then Earle began "three years in a mysterious vaporization" according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

His 1990 album The Hard Way had a strong rock sound and was followed by "a shoddy live album" called Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator.
In August 1991, Earle appeared on the TV show The Texas Connection "looking pale and blown out".
In light of Earle's "increasing drug use", MCA Records did not renew his contract and Earle didn't record any music for the next four years.
By July 1993 Earle was reported to have regained his normal weight and had started to write new material.
At that time a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times called Earle "a visionary symbol of the New Traditionalist movement in country music."

In 1994, two staff members at Warner/Chappell publishing company, and Earle's former manager, John Dotson, created an in-house CD of Earle's songs entitled Uncut Gems and showcased it to some recording artists in Nashville.
This resulted in several of Earle's songs being recorded by Travis Tritt, Stacy Dean Campbell and Robert Earl Keen.
After his recording hiatus, Earle released Train a Comin' on Winter Harvest Records and it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1996.
The album was characterized as a return to the "folksy acoustic" sound of his early career.

In 1996, Earle formed his own record label, E-Squared Records, and released the album, I Feel Alright, which combined the m
In 1974, at the age of 19, Earle moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and began working blue-collar jobs during the day and playing music at night. During this period Earle wrote songs and played bass guitar in Guy Clark's band and sang on Clark's 1975 album Old No. 1. Earle appeared in the 1975 film Heartworn Highways, a documentary on the Nashville music scene which included David Allan Coe, Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt and Rodney Crowell. Earle lived in Nashville for several years and assumed the position of staff songwriter at the publishing company Sunbury Dunbar. Later Earle grew tired of Nashville and returned to Texas where he started a band called The Dukes.
In the 1980s, Earle returned to Nashville once again and worked as a songwriter for the publishers Roy Dea and Pat Carter. A song he co-wrote, "When You Fall in Love", was recorded by Johnny Lee and made number 14 on the country charts in 1982. Carl Perkins recorded Earle's song "Mustang Wine", and two of his songs were recorded by Zella Lehr. Later Dea and Carter created an independent record label called LSI and invited Earle to begin recording his own material on their label. Connie Smith recorded Earle's composition "A Far Cry from You" in 1985 which reached a minor position on the country charts as well.
Earle released an EP called, Pink & Black, in 1982 featuring the Dukes. Acting as Earle's manager, John Lomax "sent the EP to Epic Records," and they "signed Earle" to a recording contract in 1983. In 1983, Earle signed a record deal with CBS and recorded a "neo-rockabilly album".
After losing his publishing contract with Dea and Carter, Earle met producer Tony Brown and after severing his ties with Lomax and Epic Records obtained a seven-record deal with MCA Records. Earle released his first full-length album, Guitar Town, on MCA Records in 1986. The title track became a Top Ten single in 1986 and his song "Goodbye's All We've Got Left" reached the Top Ten in 1987. That same year he released a compilation of earlier recordings entitled, Early Tracks, and an album with the Dukes, called Exit 0, which "received critical acclaim" for its blend of country and rock.
Earle released Copperhead Road on Uni Records in 1988 which was characterized as "a quixotic project that mixed a lyrical folk tradition with hard rock and eclectic Irish influences such as The Pogues, who guested on the record". The album's title track portrays a Vietnam veteran who uses his family background in running moonshine to become a marijuana grower/seller. It was Earle's highest-peaking song to date in the United States and has sold 1.1 million digital copies there as of September 2017. Then Earle began "three years in a mysterious vaporization" according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
His 1990 album The Hard Way had a strong rock sound and was followed by "a shoddy live album" called Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator. In August 1991, Earle appeared on the TV show The Texas Connection "looking pale and blown out". In light of Earle's "increasing drug use", MCA Records did not renew his contract and Earle didn't record any music for the next four years. By July 1993 Earle was reported to have regained his normal weight and had started to write new material. At that time a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times called Earle "a visionary symbol of the New Traditionalist movement in country music."
In 1994, two staff members at Warner/Chappell publishing company, and Earle's former manager, John Dotson, created an in-house CD of Earle's songs entitled Uncut Gems and showcased it to some recording artists in Nashville. This resulted in several of Earle's songs being recorded by Travis Tritt, Stacy Dean Campbell and Robert Earl Keen. After his recording hiatus, Earle released Train a Comin' on Winter Harvest Records and it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1996. The album was characterized as a return to the "folksy acoustic" sound of his early career.
In 1996, Earle formed his own record label, E-Squared Records, and released the album, I Feel Alright, which combined the m
Steve Earle