Steve Earle is an American singer-songwriter, well known for his rock and country music, as well as his political views. He is also a published writer, a political activist and has written and directed a play. In his early career, he was seen as a saviour of country music and hailed by some as the “new Bruce Springsteen.” In the later part of his career, after troubles with the law, drug addiction and his uncompromising viewpoints, he has become known as “the hardcore troubadour”.
Copperhead Road
http://djallyn.org/media/Steve_Earle-Copperhead_Road.flvWell my name’s John Lee Pettimore
Same as my daddy and his daddy before
You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here
He only came to town about twice a year
He’d buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
Everybody knew that he made moonshine
Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad
He headed up the holler with everything he had
It’s before my time but I’ve been told
He never came back from Copperhead RoadNow Daddy ran the whiskey in a big block Dodge
Bought it at an auction at the Mason’s Lodge
Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side
Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside
Well him and my uncle tore that engine down
I still remember that rumblin’ sound
Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night
Heard mama cryin’, knew something wasn’t right
He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load
You could smell the whiskey burnin’ down Copperhead RoadI volunteered for the Army on my birthday
They draft the white trash first,’round here anyway
I done two tours of duty in Vietnam
And I came home with a brand new plan
I take the seed from Colombia and Mexico
I plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road
Well the D.E.A.’s got a chopper in the air
I wake up screaming like I’m back over there
I learned a thing or two from ol’ Charlie don’t you know
You better stay away from Copperhead RoadCopperhead Road
Copperhead Road
Copperhead Road
The original moonshiner’s ballad was made famous by Robert Mitchum in the song, The Ballad of Thunder Road, that he wrote for the movie of the same name.
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