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.

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.