The Del McCoury Band: Del McCoury (vocals, guitar); Ronnie McCoury (vocals, mandolin); Rob McCoury (banjo); Jason Carter (fiddle); Mike Bubb (bass).

Recorded at Room & Board, Nashville, Tennessee and Ironwood Studios, Seattle, Washington. Includes liner notes by Steve Earle.

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

EL CORAZON was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Personnel: Steve Earle (vocals, guitar, mandola, harmonica, harmonium); Del McCoury (vocals, guitar); Ronnie McCoury (vocals, mandolin); Ross Rice (vocals, drums); Emmylou Harris (vocals); Mark Stuart (acoustic guitar, mandolin); Justin Townes Earle, Dan Bolton, Renaldo Allegre, David Steele (electric guitar); Tommy Hannum (steel guitar); Rob McCoury (banjo); Jason Carter (fiddle); Ray Kennedy (harmonium, drums, shaker, tambourine); Michael Smotherman (organ); Rev. Brady Blade (drums, washboard, tambourine, percussion); Dancing Eagle (drums).

Unknown Contributor Roles: Supersuckers; The Fairfield Four.

Anyone who figured that Steve Earle's triumphant return to form on I Feel Alight was either a fluke or a burst of second wind attributable to his return to health got the message that Earle was back to stay with 1997's El Corazón. El Corazón isn't as consistently strong as I Feel Alright and lacks a bit of that album's thematic unity, but the high points connect just as powerfully, and the album kicks off with a tremendous one-two punch, the rousing acoustic ballad "Christmas in Washington" and "Taneytown," a harrowing story of race and violence backed with gale-force electric guitars. El Corazón is also a good bit more eclectic than much of Earle's previous work, dipping into bluegrass ("You Know the Rest," featuring backing from the Del McCoury Band), old-school country ("The Other Side of Town"), hard rock ("N.Y.C.," co-starring the Supersuckers, and "Here I Am"), and vintage R&B ("Telephone Road"). As its title suggests, El Corazón often deals with matters of the heart, expressed with particular eloquence on "Poison Lovers" and "If You Fall," though the song's most emotionally resonant moment comes with its closing song, "Ft. Worth Blues," a moving farewell to Earle's longtime friend and mentor Townes Van Zandt. Earle co-produced El Corazón with frequent studio partner Ray Kennedy, and the record sounds superb, with the vocals rich and the guitars potent, confirming that Earle is the best judge of his own recorded work. El Corazón isn't the instant classic that I Feel Alright was, but it's more than good enough to show that Earle was a major talent not about to go away, and it ranks with his most vital work. ~ Mark Deming

Steve Earle was a country-rock renegade when Uncle Tupelo were still in short pants and NO DEPRESSION was an inscription on a Prozac bottle. EL CORAZON stands as a milestone in the long, checkered career of an artist who's been to hell and back without losing an ounce of his songwriting talent. This uniformly excellent batch of tunes alternates between gentle acoustic ballads and hard-rocking numbers that could give those grunge boys a run for their money. (In fact, Seattle's Supersuckers guest on one track.)

On the opener, "Christmas in Washington," Earle invokes the spirit of bygone heroes like Woody Guthrie and Martin Luther King in service of an unpretentious folk ballad of socio-political discontent. He shows off his storytelling chops on the rocking "Taneytown," supported by the breathy harmonies of Emmylou Harris. The elegiac "Ft. Worth Blues" pays tribute to Earle's old running buddy and primary influence, the late Townes Van Zandt. Throughout, the album lives up to its title, spilling messy emotions all over the place and wallowing in the carnage.