The parties on whenever Steve Earle shows up and that’s what was happening at the House of Blues when Earle and the latest incarnation of the Dukes put on a two hour Americana ,alt country, semi psycho -billy hoedown for a near capacity crowd.

Earle, long known for his heart felt lyrics of love, opinion, protest, injustice and revolution not to mention incredible melodies touched on just about everything you would want to hear from his sizable catalog.

At least six of the numbers featured were from his latest release “Low Highway” with “21^st Century Blues” being my personal favorite.

Opening the show was The Masterson’s, an HMR favorite for a while now and when they teamed up with Earle as part of the Duke’s it was extra icing on the cake.

Speaking of the Masterson’s, Eleanor Whitmore’s violin playing was impeccable. She complimented every tune that featured her during the show as husband Chris Masterson filled in on backup vocals and Masterful guitar playing, augmenting each of Earle’s numbers.

Earle switched gears throughout the show swapping out from electric to acoustic guitar and mandolin, then back again. From ballads and country to hard driving Rock and Roll there was something for everyone.

Steve Earle’s strong ties to Houston are well known so the two numbers that got the crowd jumping the most were “Telephone Road” and “Home to Houston” both classic and well known songs by Earle.

Other immediately recognizable tunes featured during the show were “Copperhead Road”, “The Galway Girl”, “Ben McCullogh” and a killer encore version of “The Revolution Starts Now”.

Earle mentioned his home in Woodstock, NY and name dropped a few of his neighbors like Happy Traum and John Sebastion.

He also spoke of the late Levon Helm who co-founded The Band and most recently hosted The Midnight Ramble, an ongoing event held at Helm’s Barn studio in Woodstock.

Paying homage to Helm, Earle, on mandolin with help from the rest of the band performed Levon’s classic number “Rag Mama Rag”.

Another one of Earle’s heroes was Texas original Townes Van Zant who Earle remembered by singing probably Van Zant’s most recognized song “Pancho and Lefty”.

 Steve Earle needs to be seen and heard live to fully appreciate this artists amazing talent….a gift for song writing and performing. Go see one of his shows as soon as you can. I know I’ll will again.