May 16, 2015
A barely 20-year-old Steve Earle sings the Mercenary Song while a drunken bunch of hooligans (with Guy Clark being the sloppiest) forget the lyrics and swing along. Everything about this is fantastic β the jugs of wine, the sweaters (it was christmastime), that incredible artwork on the wall, the amber lenses on the stringbean who stands up at the endβ¦ it just really paints a picture. Guy Clark asks him to sing Elijahβs Church at the end, which is worth going down the rabbit hole forβ¦Β
This is from Heartworn Highways, a documentary from β81 that follows a bunch of these liquored up outlaw country bastards as they burn bridges and eat pills from 1975 to 1976. It is definitely worth your time.Β
