Personnel includes: Steve Earle (vocals, guitar).

Producers: Tony Brown, Richard Bennett, Emory Gordy, Jr., Steve Earle.

Compilation producer: Andy McKaie.

Recorded between 1985 & 1987. Includes liner notes by Andy McKaie.

This is part of "20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection" series.

The Steve Earle installment of the 20TH CENTURY MASTERS best-of series forgoes Earle's later political material, and instead collects 12 key tracks from the early part of his career when he was battling drug addiction and establishing himself as a maverick Nashville singer-songwriter. Among the cuts are signature Earle tunes such as "Guitar Town," "Someday," and the country-rock anthem "Copperhead Road." While it doesn't offer a complete picture, the set does a solid job of presenting the formative days of this "hardcore troubadour."

The Steve Earle entry in Universal's 20th Century Masters -- The Millennium Collection series of midline-priced best-ofs predictably treats Earle's career as if it lasted only from 1985-1988 and consisted only of his earlier MCA Records recordings. Five tracks are culled from his MCA debut, Guitar Town, including the Top Ten country hits "Goodbye's All We Got Left" and the title track. Another four come from Guitar Town's follow-up, Exit O, with two tracks recorded for a movie soundtrack, one of which, a revival of Dave Dudley's "Six Days on the Road," made the country charts. The 12-track selection concludes with the title song from Earle's third MCA album, Copperhead Road, which made the Top Ten of Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It's a bare-minimum primer on Earle's most commercially successful music of the 1980s, but that's the idea. The country or rock fan who hasn't yet encountered Earle and wants to get an idea of what his music is like without paying full price for a front-line CD will satisfy that interest here and hopefully go on to the more comprehensive two-CD set I Ain't Ever Satisfied: The Steve Earle Collection or his regular albums. ~ William Ruhlmann