Earle Steve & The Dukes: Jerry Jeff (Clear/Ltd)

Som titeln antyder är nya plattan en hyllning till läromästaren och vännen Jerry Jeff Walker, som dog hösten 2020, 78 år gammal. Med ""Jerry Jeff"" kompletterar Steve Earle den serie hyllningsplattor som inleddes med 2009 års ""Townes"" (Townes van Zandt), fortsatte med 2029 års ""Guy"" (Guy Clark) och som nu avslutas med ""Jerry Jeff"". 2021 gav Steve Earle dessutom ut ""J.T."", en fin men smärtsam hyllningen till sonen Justin Townes Earle, som dog 2020, endast 38 år. ""The records were recorded and released in the order in which they left this world. But make no mistake - it was Jerry Jeff Walker who came first,"" says Earle. Earle was 14 when he first heard Walker. His high school drama teacher gave him a copy of ""Mr. Bojangles,"" Walker"'s classic ballad about an unforgettable character he met in a New Orleans jail. After Earle moved to Nashville in the 1970s, he had the opportunity to get to know Walker, who enlisted him as his designated driver. ""There"'s a tendency to think of Jerry Jeff around a relationship to one song,"" Earle says, referring to ""Mr. Bojangles,"" which was covered by everyone from Bob Dylan to Sammy Davis Jr. ""He was also such a great interpreter of other people"'s songs. But my main purpose in recording this album was to remind people that he wrote a lot of fucking great songs.""