Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle - Colvin & Earle

The Guardian 60

(Fantasy Records)

Steve Earle has moved on, yet again. The last album from one of the finest, most versatile songwriters of the Americana scene was Terraplane, a celebration of the blues, clearly influenced by his seventh divorce. Now comes a series of duets performed and mostly written with the Grammy-winning singer Shawn Colvin. The producer is the great guitarist Buddy Miller, the band includes guitarist Richard Bennett, who played on Earle’s gutsy breakthrough album Guitar Town in 1986, and the new set has the easy, upbeat confidence of his early work. There are some fine songs here, from the bluesy, harmonica-backed You’re Right, I’m Wrong to the stirring folk-gospel Tell Me Moses and the gently pained country weepie You’re Still Gone. The four cover songs include a thoughtful treatment of the Emmylou Harris’ Raise the Dead, a solid, pounding Tobacco Road and a forgettable revival of Ruby Tuesday.