Fabulous Fiction Firsts #260

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 4:19pm by muffy

The title of both Steve Earle's new album and debut novel I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive * is taken from the Hank Williams song by the same name - his last single released during his lifetime. On January 1,1953 on the way to a concert, Williams suffered a fatal heart attack. He was only 29.

The novel opens in 1963 with Doc Ebersole, haunted by guilt (he is rumored to have given his good friend Hank the fatal morphine dose), wracked by addiction (morphine), a habit he supports by performing illegal abortions and other services in the seedy neighborhood of South San Antonio. Then he meets Graciela, a young Mexican immigrant in need of his services, and miraculous things begin to happen. Though Graciela sustains a wound on her wrist that never heals, she could heals others with the touch of her hand, even Doc.

Veteran singer-songwriter-actor, and author of an earlier collection of short stories Doghouse Roses, Steve Earle writes about what his knows, from his hometown of San Antonio, the music industry, to the hard & fast life on the road - morphine, mortality and once in a great while if luck would have it, miracles.

Check out Steve's tour dates this spring/summer to promote the album and the novel. He will be playing at The Majestic Theater in Detroit on July 30th, 2011.

* = Starred review