I remember an old episode of the TV show Growing Pains where young Ben discovers that his favorite musician is, in real life, a jerk. The moral of the story is that you like a musician for their music, even if they personally do not live up to your expectations. I more or less follow that philosophy as I enjoy the music of Eminem and Cat Stevens even though one is a criminal and the other a Muslim of the bad sort. In both cases, whatever their personal issues, the music is good. What happens, though, when the music is built on a the very foundation of what you don't like about them? What if they are advocating it?

Steve Earle is testing that hypothesis right now. With good reason, Earle is practically a legend on the Texas Country music scene. I have probably heard over a dozen bands cover his "Copperhead Road" song, about the well-known secrets of a small town. One of my favorite songs is "The Boy Who Wouldn't Cry" about a boy who... well, you get the idea. Lyrics carry a lot of weight in Earle's music, as does politics. He has written some of the most powerful songs against the death penalty that I have heard to date. His music has such a raw emotional intensity that I can hardly imagine how I'll react to his next CD:

The controversial ballad called "John Walker's Blues" is backed by the chanting of Arabic prayers and praises Allah... Earle's lyrics describe the United States as "the land of the infidel." Those fighting Osama bin Laden's declared jihad against the United States and Jews are said to have hearts "pure and strong." ... The song says when Lindh dies, he will "rise up to the sky like Jesus."

So what does one do when the center of the music is the morally repugnant views of the artist? There is a very solid chance that the actual music will be extremely good. If anyone could write eloquently about a fascist philosophy's war against freedom, it's Earle. There is also something artistically and intellectually interesting about telling the story sympathetically from the villains point of view. At the same time, that flies against my stance on the conflict since day one, which is that there is no compromise and, thus, no reason to see the enemy in a sympathetic light. However, I doubt the CD is likely to elicit sympathy for anyone who doesn't already has it. Just about every American has made up his or her mind about this. I don't yet know what I'm going to do about the CD. I want to hear it, but I don't want to support it. I can't figure out how to do one without the other.

Another interesting thing is to see how the local music community acts. Cross Canadian Ragweed, which added a verse into the "If I Was President" song for Osama bin Laden, is one of the many that held Earle in extremely high regard. Every so often in a show, Texas Country musicians will play up Texas Country (or Alternative Country, if you like) and Earle's name is usually one of the ones mentioned. Entertainers aren't political beings to begin with, but this is something that is pretty hard to overlook or just say "That's just Steve being Steve..."

UPDATE: Orrin Judd has a the goods on Steve Earle's other shocking new tune!

UPDATE TOO: Eric Olsen weighs in, as I was hoping he would. He suggests that we all just cool down because, in the end, it doesn't matter what his personal views are. I am generally inclined to agree, but this one hits harder for some reason and if he is supporting the enemy, then it does matter to me. It has a qualitative effect on the song, to me, if he's trying to preach at me. I guess the difference is best explained by how if your friends makes a funny joke pointed at you, you can laugh. If you and he are on the outs, though, it isn't very funny.