Tuesday December 1, 2020 “Copperhead Road” Steve Earle

This is not a country song, OK maybe it is, just maybe.

Copperhead Road is a real road in East Tennessee where moonshine was made and two generations later, where marijuana was grown and this song written and sung by Steve Earle tells the story of a soldier who returns home from Vietnam and starts trafficking marijuana.

Earle began learning the guitar at the age of 11 and entered and won a school talent contest at age 13. He ran away from home at age 14 to search for his idol, singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. He would play bass guitar in Guy Clark’s band while holding down blue-collar day jobs and writing songs. His first solo album Guitar Town established Steve Earle as a successful talent and led to his next album which contained today’s story song “Copperhead Road”.

Steve Earle has said that he plays this song at every show because it is a fan favorite and when asked if he doesn’t get sick of it he said “You don’t get sick of songs that give you a way to make a living doing what you love.”

Earle has been married seven times, including twice to the same woman and has said, "I'd hate to be my wife. I've been a serial husband and I've done it badly every time."

Stay safe and well...and don’t marry Steve Earle.

Stay safe and well...another melancholy story song with an unhappy ending, but I have found that many of these are.

Well my name's John Lee Pettimore

Same as my daddy and his daddy before

You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here

He only come to town about twice a year

He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line

Everybody knew that he made moonshine

Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad

Headed up the holler with everything he had

'Fore my time but I've been told

He never come back from Copperhead Road

Now Daddy ran whiskey in a big block Dodge

Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge

Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side

Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside

Well him and my uncle tore that engine down

I still remember that rumblin' sound

When the Sheriff came around in the middle of the night

Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right

He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load

You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road

I volunteered for the Army on my birthday

They draft the white trash first, 'round here anyway

I done two tours of duty in Vietnam

I came home with a brand new plan

I take the seed from Columbia and Mexico

I just plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road

And now the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air

I wake up screaming like I'm back over there

I learned a thing or two from Charlie don't you know

You'd better stay away from Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road