First-time release of Sidetracks on vinyl!

Warner Bros. Records will release remastered versions of six classic Steve Earle albums in September 2017. Earle’s 2002 compilation album, Sidetracks, is a 13-song collection comprised of previously unreleased numbers, music from film soundtracks, and unheard alternate versions.

“With the exception of two instrumentals,” Earle explains, “these are not outtakes. They are, rather, stray tracks…that I am very proud of and that are either unreleased or underexposed.”

Leave it to Earle to unleash one of the most off-the-wall odds ‘n’ sods collections ever; it’s also, by the way, one of the most satisfying. Except for two plucky instrumentals originally meant for Transcendental Blues, there are no outtakes here, just a batch of movie-soundtrack songs, demos, live takes, and previously unreleased tracks. They include the inspired, revelatory “Me and the Eagle” (from “The Horse Whisperer”); the credible white-boy reggae “Johnny Too Bad” with the V-Roys; a churning remake of Nirvana’s “Breed”; a storming, camp-free duet with Sheryl Crow on the Chambers Brothers’ psychedelic period piece “Time Has Come Today”; and a demo of “Ellis Unit One” with the Fairfield Four that sounds like a field recording made inside the prison walls. It all hangs together to rank this among Earle’s finest albums.

Steve Earle has turned many musical corners during his illustrious career. He has been equally acclaimed as a folk troubadour, a rockabilly raver, a contemplative bluesman, a honky-tonk rounder, a snarling rocker and even a bluegrass practitioner. This definitive Americana artist has won three Grammy Awards, for 2005’s The Revolution Starts Now, 2008’s Washington Square Serenade and 2010’s Townes.