Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade (2007)

Washington Square Serenade ultimately sounds a bit less focused than its immediate predecessors, the politically minded Jerusalem and The Revolution Starts…Now (despite the presence of "Red Is the Color" and "Steve's Hammer"), but it also finds Earle trying out some new tricks both as a performer and a songwriter, and it's exciting and encouraging to hear him exploring fresh turf after two decades of record-making, and there's lots of fine music to be had on this set.

Tracks
01 Tennessee Blues Earle 2:39
02 Down Here Below Earle 4:02
03 Satellite Radio Earle 4:09
04 City of Immigrants Earle 4:18
05 Sparkle and Shine Earle 3:12
06 Come Home to Me Earle 3:47
07 Jericho Road Earle 3:36
08 Oxycontin Blues Earle 2:54
09 Red Is the Color Earle 4:19
10 Steve's Hammer (For Pete) Earle 3:15
11 Days Aren't Long Enough Earle, Moorer 3:01
12 Way Down in the Hole Waits 2:55

Reviews @ cduniverse
Alt-country king Steve Earle documents some major life changes on WASHINGTON SQUARE SERENADE. In the time between this album and its 2004 predecessor, Earle married singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, and the Texas-bred Nashville rebel moved to … Full DescriptionNew York's Greenwich Village (hence the album title). These alterations are represented by the songs here, including odes to Earle's new home town and love ballads presumably written for Moorer.
The album marks a turning point on the sonic level as well. Earle, who says Moorer likened his usual old-school production techniques to civil war re-enactments, enlisted L.A.'s Dust Brothers (of Beastie Boys and Beck fame) to help update his methods. While SERENADE is far from hip-hop, there are some subtle electronic touches amid the rampant rootsiness, and there's more cut-and-paste cerebralism than garage-rock gusto to the arrangements. It all adds up to one small step for Earle, and if not one giant leap for 21st-century Americana, then certainly a lengthy stride.

Recording information: Electric Lady Studios, New York, New York.

Personnel include: Steve Earle (banjo); John Medeski (electric piano); Jeremy Chatzky (acoustic bass); John Spiker (electric bass); Marty Beller (drums); Petey, Charlie Stavish, The Downtown Proletariat Choir, Noah Goldstein, Lee Foster, Paul Bannister, Collin Hart, John King, Patrick Earle, Josh Wilbur (background vocals).

Additional personnel: Allison Moorer (vocals); Smokey Hormel (baritone guitar); Jorge Continentino (bamboo flute); Davi Viera (triangle); John Refosco (unknown instrument); Forro In The Dark.

Rolling Stone (p.77) - 3 stars out of 5 – "It impacts just like any other Steve Earle record – lyrics first….[With] two fine love songs to Earle's wife, harmony-singing Allison Moorer…."
Spin (p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 – "[A]s he shows on 'Days Aren't Long Enough' and 'Sparkle and Shine,' the man can still write a damn pretty love song."
Entertainment Weekly (p.105) - "SERENADE is awash in unexpected grace notes….A love letter to his new home." – Grade: B+
Uncut (p.106) - 4 stars out of 5 – "Layering acoustic and electric guitars over vaguely hip hop beats, much of it sounds like Earle taking stock of his new home and nodding his approval….It's all invigorating, wonderful stuff."
Magnet (p.93) - "[T]he most convincing songs on WASHINGTON SERENADE are about love, devotion, messing up, and simply wanting to be heard."

Review by Mark Deming @ allmusic
New York City has long been more than America's biggest and most fabled city – it's a place that symbolizes fresh starts and new opportunities, and there are scores of songs and stories about folks pulling up roots and heading to the Big Apple in search of a better and more exciting life. Steve Earle wrote one such song on his 1997 album El Corazón, "NYC," in which a nervy kid from Tennessee hitchhikes to Manhattan because "there must be something happening, it's just too big a town," and a decade later Earle followed him, moving to New York to escape Red State malaise. Washington Square Serenade, Earle's 12th studio album and first in three years, deals in part with the sights and sounds of his new hometown, from the red-tailed hawk that lives in Central Park ("Down Here Below") to the multilingual chatter of the streets ("City of Immigrants"), while also taking a look back at the home he left behind on tunes like "Oxycontin Blues," "Red Is the Color," and "Jericho Road." While there's a strength in the familiar textures of the songs where Earle remembers Tennessee, there's a welcome sense of rejuvenation in the album's first half as he shares the details of his adventures in New York (which also includes a new bride, Allison Moorer, who lends lovely backing vocals to these sessions and is the presumable inspiration for "Sparkle and Shine" and "Days Aren't Long Enough"), and the expressionistic imagery of "Down Here Below" and "Satellite Radio" works beautifully in this context. After producing his last few album himself, Earle turned those chores over to Dust Brother John King for Washington Square Serenade, and King brings a welcome collision of the traditional and the contemporary to the music, facing scratchy drum loops against mandolins and dobros while letting a folky simplicity carry the day when it best suits the song, and the sound is crisp and forceful throughout. Washington Square Serenade ultimately sounds a bit less focused than its immediate predecessors, the politically minded Jerusalem and The Revolution Starts…Now (despite the presence of "Red Is the Color" and "Steve's Hammer"), but it also finds Earle trying out some new tricks both as a performer and a songwriter, and it's exciting and encouraging to hear him exploring fresh turf after two decades of record-making, and there's lots of fine music to be had on this set.