So You Wannabe an Outlaw

Albums like this one continue to burnish a musical legacy that is every bit as imposing as the ones to which Earle pays homage in these songs.

The gravel-voiced 62-year-old coasts along on foot-stomping jukebox cliché at times, but his howling murder ballad Fixin’ To Die burns with an agreeably ragged fury, while plaintive finger-picking story songs such as News From Colorado are welcome reminders that he can sometimes out-Springsteen The Boss himself in the heart-stirring Americana stakes.

Earle sounds invigorated and relaxed, and these are some of his best songs in years. [No. 144, p.58]

So You Wannabe An Outlaw may be one of his very good, rather than great albums, but it's truly wonderful to hear him having such fun making it. [Aug 2017, p.93]

More than a reclamation, Outlaw suggests the miles traveled imbue a more fluid application of his roots attack and tattered romanticism.

The album’s second half slows down a bit, but it maintains the focus on songcraft and mood.

Nothing here breaks the four-minute mark making for a tight 12 tracks clocking in at just under 40 minutes. In this, So You Want to Be an Outlaw is a true album, each track flowing one to the next, aided by the overarching thematic outlaw country imagery recently resuscitated by the likes of Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson.

Earle isn't breaking any boundaries here, and he runs out of steam before the closing Goodbye Michelangelo, but he's doing what he does best--and that's better than most. [Aug 2017, p.105]

This is more the work of a road-hardened posse, as opposed to the more introspective troubadour of more recent times, the frontman’s now spitting out odes to blue collar pride (The Firebreak Line, If Mama Coulda Seen Me).

You can call it a return to his roots if you like, but really, So You Wanna Be an Outlaw is just a very good Steve Earle album--one that engages his past without ever sounding stuck in a rut.

His band certainly nails Jennings’ trenchant country-rock tread on the title-track, a warning of the downside of the outlaw lifestyle for which Earle’s joined by Waylon’s old buddy Willie Nelson.

Earle pays homage to the outlaws with a dozen fine originals.