Roots rocker, "new country" songwriter, and author Steve Earle will read from his new novel, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7, in Prairie Lights Books, with a live stream on the University of Iowa’s Virtual Writing University.
The reading is free and open to the public, and the event was scheduled at 4 p.m. because Earle will perform at the Englert Theatre that evening.
Earle’s long-anticipated debut novel imagines the troubled life of Doc Ebersole as he is haunted by the ghost of his former patient and friend, Hank Williams.
Thomas Cobb, author of Crazy Heart, stated, “This is an impressive debut novel. The characters are unforgettable, and the plot moves like a fast train. A fantastic mixture of hard reality and dark imagination.” And Patti Smith said, “Steve Earle brings to his prose the same authenticity, poetic spirit, and cinematic energy he projects in his music. I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive is like a dream you can’t shake, offering beauty and remorse, redemption in spades.”
Earle was already known as a master storyteller through his music. He emerged in the mid-'80s, after Bruce Springsteen had popularized populist rock 'n' roll and Dwight Yoakam had kick-started the neo-traditionalist movement in country music.
His unwillingness to conform to the rules of Nashville or to rock 'n' roll meant that he has never broken into the mainstream. Instead, he cultivated a dedicated following that draws from both country and rock audiences. His songs have been recorded by artists including Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, the Pretenders, and Joan Baez.
The album I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive received a Grammy Nomination in the Best Folk Album Category, and Earle won Grammys for Townes, The Revolution Starts… Now, and Washington Square Serenade. He was also recently nominated for Album of the Year and Song of the Year by the American Music Awards.
For accommodations at the Prairie Lights reading, contact jan@prairielights.com.