I certainly liked Steve Earle's music when my friend Jim first had me listen to him, but it was his cover of the Rolling Stones' song Dead Flowers that I liked best. It is a live version that begins with some narrative about a group of people wearing his t-shirts throwing rocks at Indians wearing his t-shirts, with him pondering "what's wrong with this picture."

Over the years, I have come to appreciate Steve Earle as one of the premier artists of the day trying to raise social awareness and conscience through his music. From his early appearances at Farm Aid to his commentary on F the CC to his latest project Washington Square Serenade, he has continually put social injustices in words to music in the hope that it will make us all think before we jerk our knees for popularity.

Steve Earle spent many years in coffee houses and bars singing songs influenced by artists protesting the Vietnam war. His big break came when he was invited to perform at Farm Aid in 1987. As he says at the beginning of The Rain Came Down, he knew this was going to do him more good than the farmers, so he wrote the song "to buy off his conscience."

Influenced by his mother's view that the death penalty is unjust, it is a cause that he has taken in several songs including Dead Man Walking, Ellis Unit One, and the song I've included here, Billy Austin. Despite liking the song, I personally held the view that some people simply earn the death penalty. All that changed a few years ago when Gary Ridgway, aka the Green River Killer, was allowed to bargain for life imprisonment. The prosecutor said it was to bring closure to many families, but critical examination shows that it was truly about the cost to provide adequate defense to withstand appeals. When money is figured into justice, there is no justice. Though the clip cuts the end of the song, it includes the part about "most of them black or brown and poor," which is the social injustice inherent in the death penalty.

More than 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001 when a group of terrorists took down the twin towers in New York City. Since then, many times more people from many countries have died in the war on terrorism. Though we knew who we were after, we have been unsuccessful in finding that person. The war has taken many twists and turns, and led to the controversial invasion of Iraq, where more Americans have died than died on that fateful September day in 2001.

The war on terrorism, and the subsequent invasion of Iraq, have become divisive topics concerning patriotism in this country. Should we be there? Should we not? Who knows for sure?

Steve Earle took a different look at terrorism in his song Rich Man's War. Regardless of your feelings on the war on terrorism, it brings insight into how it is working for people on both sides of the battleground.

You can find out more about Steve Earle at his official website, or on his page at Wikipedia. You can also see Steve Earle on the show The Wire in which he plays a recovering heroin addict, a role he says is not acting.

Love him or hate him, Steve Earle is an artist who has made his life's calling raising social awareness and conscience through his music. To me, he is one of the greatest of our generation doing so.