Stacey Earle (born September 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter.
Early life
Earle was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and raised in
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
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, Texas. She first taught herself to play a
ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
and then began playing a gut string guitar, left behind by her musician brother,
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...
. She was given her own guitar as a Christmas present when she was 16 years old, but became a mother at 17 and played and sang at home, developing her own style of finger picking.
Career
When she was 29 years old, Earle moved to
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...
to live with her brother Steve, and sang backing vocals and played rhythm guitar on his 1991 album '' The Hard Way'', and for the subsequent world tour. She appeared on her brother's subsequent albums: ''Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator'' and '' Transcendental Blues''.
After returning from tour, she wrote songs and performed them at writer's nights in Nashville. Later, she set up her own songwriters' night to get some more time on stage. During this time, she met fellow guitarist and singer Mark Stuart who became her partner in running the events and then later became her second husband.
Earle signed a contract with Nashville's Ten Ten Music Group as a staff songwriter and received notice for her song "For Years", which appeared on
Sammy Kershaw
Samuel Paul Kershaw (born February 24, 1958) is an American country music artist. He has released 16 studio albums, with three RIAA platinum certifications and two gold certifications among them. More than 25 singles have entered the Top 40 on the ...
's 1996 CD '' Politics, Religion and Her''.
In 1998 she released the album ''Simple Gearle'' which later appeared on ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' "Favorite CD's You Nearly Missed" list. Reviewer
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles (born October 25, 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.