Here are a couple of noteworthy music items taking place in Charlottesville as we kick off your work week.  WTJU 91.1FM presents another Rock and Roll Move Night on Monday starring the band Radiohead and on Tuesday the Paramount Theater presents Steve Earle with Allison Moorer.  For more details….

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Monday night may be your best opportunity to catch a glimpse of Radiohead locally, unless of course you have tickets for next month’s SOLD OUT show at the Nissan Pavilion.  WTJU will be presenting the film Meeting People is Easy at 8pm on Monday in Room 011 of UVA’s Olsson Hall.  No charge. 

The film, directed by Grant Gee, follows the band as they embark on their OK Computer World Tour and ends with the band returning to the UK to begin recording for their two follow-up albums Kid A and Amnesiac.  The film was nominated for a Grammy award in 2000.  The band’s most recent album, In Rainbows, was first released as a “pay what you want” download on the internet in October of 2007.  The album was officially released in stores on January 1, 2008 after the band signed with ATO Records, the label co-founded by Dave Matthews.  The album finished at the top of many critics’ “Best of” lists for 2007.

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Steve Earle first burst on the country music scene in 1985 with the release of his major label debut Guitar Town.  The title track became a radio hit and appeared to be the stepping stone towards a shot at country music stardom.  In 1988, his third album Copperhead Road went gold, selling over 500,000 copies.  Unfortunately what followed was a continuing battle with heroin addiction and a stint in jail for drug and firearms possession.  It wasn’t until 1994, after kicking his habit and being released from jail that Steve Earle’s music career got back on track.  His comeback record, the acoustic-driven Train A’ Comin released in late 1994, won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.  In 1999, he released what I believe is one of the best bluegrass albums of the last ten years, a collaboration with the Del McCoury Band, entitled The Mountain.

In subsequent years Earle has released a string of critically acclaimed records but he has found himself almost completely ignored by the country music establishment, partly because of his political views on a range of subjects from the death penalty to the war in Iraq.  In addition to his career as a singer-songwriter, Steve Earle is also a noted poet, playwright, short-story author, and hosts his own radio show on Air America One.   His most recent album is entitled Washington Square Serenade. 

Steve Earle performs a solo acoustic show at the Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater on Tuesday at 8pm.  Tickets are still available.  $24.50 - $39.50.  His wife, Allison Moorer opens.

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