The Highwaymen–Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson

This is the second post this week on Steve Earle’s “The Devil’s Right Hand.” See the first post here. Today’s post reviews some of the covers of Earle’s song, and we wrap up with a serendipitous find from The Jason Paulson Band. Earle’s song is the third installment in our Implements of Destruction series.

Aging Outlaws and Rockabilly Rebels

Unlike “41 Thunderer,” which to my knowledge has yet to be recorded by another artist, or “Autobiography of a Pistol,” of which I’ve only found one non-Ellis Paul version (on Spotify here), Steve Earle’s “Devil’s Right Hand” was recorded and released before Earle was able to release it himself. As I mentioned in the last post, Earle’s first recording got nixed when the record got cancelled. In the meantime, Jennings recorded the song as the concluding track on his 1985 release Will the Wolf Survive.

Although Will the Wolf Surivive is generally classified as Outlaw Country by virtue of its singer, Jennings’s arrangement on “DRH” comes across as pretty tame and mainstream, almost 80s pop. The electronic keyboard doesn’t help.

Jennings brought the song with him to the country supergroup, The Highwaymen, consisting of Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson.  The song’s a good fit for these senior statesmen of Outlaw Country. It’s a Western, there’s a gun and a shooting, and you have Mama telling you all along that you’re going down the wrong path. What could go wrong?

I find this version only somewhat more successful than Jennings’s solo effort. It’s weighted down with the “supergroup” factor, and the switching of lead voices detracts from the confessional tone available to a single singer. The Highwaymen released the song on their third album together, The Road Goes on Forever, produced by Don Was.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine’s review of the album is rather scathing.

“The problem is, the whole thing sounds too damn serious; Was and the Highwaymen may have all the right cards, but they don’t know how to play them. Instead of capturing a kinetic energy or intense introspection, The Road Goes on Forever just sounds studious and overlabored, as if the group wanted to produce music that lived up to their mythological legacy, not the music itself.”

The crisp, staccato, telegraph-like electric guitar support is perfect for Cash’s voice at this stage and a fitting echo to Cash’s early recordings. Critics and biographers have tied some of Cash’s early sound to his experience as a Morse Code intercept operator for the U.S. Air Force during the Cold War.

As far as other, more adventurous arrangements go, the song also found its way into the repertoire of bands looking for new kinds of edges in Rockabilly Revival and Punk Country. A few bands have tried it with a straight rock and roll tone, but keeping some country in it, as The Seatsniffers and Hammerlock do, works better in my opinion.

You can listen to a rather muddy live recording of the song on YouTube here.

A YouTube Hammerlock version is here.

However effective the song is in Earle’s hands, Cash’s hands, or your preferred version, my sense is that there’s only so far that it’s going to go along the lines of folk process. It’s not a ground-breaker as a murder ballad or as outlaw country, but a solid journeyman piece that gives enough of a taste of the deeper themes we’ve been developing in the series so far to get you started. Let’s just say it can get you into trouble, but it can’t get you out.

Coda: Son of the Devil’s Right Hand

My great find this week was The Jason Paulson Band’s own “Devil’s Right Hand.” It’s a different song, but builds, in a way, on the legacy of Earle’s piece. The Minnesota-based Paulson has a brand of Northern Plains Americana that draws comparisons to the younger Steve Earle, despite hailing from quite a few parallels north. His “Devil’s Right Hand” is not a murder ballad, but there are guns, guitars, and shooting. It’s not quite as literal as its predecessor…

Lyrics (N.B. another one of Paulson’s will start playing automatically when you click on this link).

[Apologies to those unable to access Spotify. Paulson has no other streamable platform for the song at the moment.]

After a healthy disclaimer that there’s no one, exclusive meaning to be found in any of his songs, Paulson

Jason Paulson

explains his take on the song on his web site:

“Devil’s Right Hand” was written about playing a great show to a crowd less than enthusiastic or non-existent. It is hard as an artist because you want to know that what you are doing is making an impact of some sort. When you give everything you’ve got and still get nothing in return, it makes you wonder if this is what you should be doing or if it is time to move on. But,I guess as long as somebody comes to see me, you will find me on a stage somewhere. I will more than likely be up there with my right hand man, Matt Gray.

In a separate email exchange with me, Paulson confirmed Earle’s influence on the album as a whole and that the song’s title is a direct reference to Earle’s song by the same name. The Jason Paulson Band covers “Copperhead Road” and “Guitar Town,” but doesn’t cover Earle’s “The Devil’s Right Hand.” “It is very much a road song,” he says.

That’s all for now. Pat will be on point for the next post. Thanks for reading and listening.