Sounds of a barking dog and a blaring television set came through the cell phone loud and clear. Steve Earle admonished the dog and muted the television volume. He was, after all, trying to relax. The Tennessee-based singing songwriter with the San Antonio roots is about to step into the big middle, or become the big middle, of a multitasking whirlwind.

Earle's latest CD, the pointedly political "The Revolution Starts Now," is slated for release Tuesday.

"I'm kinda moving to New York for a month," Earle said, his South Texas drawl still intact. "I've got a reading of my play ('Karla,' about Karla Faye Tucker, who was executed in Texas in 1998), which is the first step to getting it staged. I've got a radio show, a music show, on Air America, a one-hour show called 'The Revolution Starts Now' that'll air on Sundays."

Earle is also going to catch some baseball games, do publicity for "The Revolution Starts Now" CD, keep an eye on the Republican National Convention and, on Aug. 30, just before the convention starts, march with the Kensington Welfare Rights Movement. And he'll soon hit the road solo and with his band, the Dukes, for "The Revolution Starts Now" tour. Should be an interesting month in New York City.

"I doubt very seriously I'll get through it without being arrested," Earle said with a slight laugh. "It's nuts. It's crazy out there. This is one we can't sit out. This is really, seriously an emergency. This is not the time to not vote. This is not the time to vote for Nader."

When it comes to speaking his mind, Steve Earle does. He's involved with a number of anti-death-penalty groups, with Amnesty International, with the Vietnam Veterans' Campaign for a Landmine Free World and with the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

"The Revolution Starts Now" CD includes songs such as the title track; "Rich Man's War"; "Home to Houston," about a civilian truck driver praying to get home alive from Iraq; "Condi, Condi," a little love song directed toward National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice; and "F the CC."

There are those who believe musicians should entertain, not get neck-deep in political and social issues.

"That's (expletive)," Earle said, quickly. "I'm a citizen. What's Rush Limbaugh? He's an entertainer. What's Alan Keyes? He's an entertainer. And I'm qualified to comment on society. I'm an artist and that's my job. Britney Spears has a right to speak out as a citizen. Maybe people don't want to hear what she has to say as an artist, but she's still a citizen. I can say whatever the (expletive) I want to say."

And say it Earle does, taking on everything from the Bush administration's war policy to the Federal Communications Commission.

"W and I have something in common," Earle said, referring to recovery from substance abuse problems. "But he doesn't go to meetings anymore. He's the president of the United States. He's found something else, and what he's found boils down to fundamentalist Christianity trying to take on fundamentalist Islam, and that only ends one way: badly."

Earle's FCC broadside, "F the CC," is driven by a couple of words unfit for airplay.

"I've said that word before — a lot — but I've never sung it," Earle said, laughing. And then he quit laughing. "The Federal Communications Commission is about stewardship of the airwaves for us, for the people of the United States, not for George Bush's next-door-neighbor in Crawford."

But the f-bomb and politics are not all that moves "The Revolution Starts Now." There's a lovely duet with Emmylou Harris called "Comin' Around." Earle also serves up a touching song, "I Thought You Should Know," that's guaranteed to appeal to those who dare to defy a broken heart. There's even a string section on "The Gringo's Tale," about an operative on the run. And, with "Warrior," Earle goes old school with what amounts to a music-driven epic-style poem.

"I had the riff and I knew it would be a spoken-word piece," he said. "I turned on the television and Kenneth Branagh's version of 'Henry V' was on."

Using parts of "Henry V" as a blueprint, Earle had actor/director Bruce Kronenberg read the lines. Earle recorded a track and then fit his words into the meter.

"Iambic pentameter works," Earle said. "I used more of my vocabulary than I usually use."

Most of Earle's vocabulary these days is turned toward demanding political and social change. But not all of his ire is directed at the current administration.

"I'm concerned about the regular good people who think Fox is real news," he said. "I went on 'The O'Reilly Factor.' He asked a question about John Walker Lindh. (Lindh, the "American Taliban," was the subject of a song, "John Walker's Blues," on Earle's last disc, "Jerusalem.") O'Reilly said, 'He was tried and convicted of treason.' I told him he wasn't. (Lindh pleaded guilty to supplying services to Afghanistan's Taliban government and carrying explosives in commission of a felony.) O'Reilly was wrong. That was edited out."

And Earle isn't all about attacking the right.

"It's not the right's fault. I think it's about us," he said. "We went to sleep. The people who protested the Vietnam War opened waterbed stores and had kids named Dylan and stopped participating. The people like me, who read the 'Eagle Bone Whistle' and played music at the Gatehouse, quit participating."

On steveearle.net, a long running Steve Earle fan site, there's a photo of Earle. Under the photo is a quote, "It doesn't matter who you vote for, just vote. Steve Earle, May 21, 2004." Alongside are links to voter registration information.

"My belief is if we have any higher percentage of voters than we usually do — only about 35 percent of eligible voters actually go out and vote — then it's more likely to turn out the way I want it to," Earle said, laughing again. "I don't want people to think their vote doesn't count. They'll cheat. We're watchin' you, Jeb," he said, referring to the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida.

Speaking of photos of Earle, it's obvious the man has lost more than a little weight. After he cleaned up a few years ago, he ballooned.

"I got tired of being fat," he said. "I quit eating white (expletive). I do miss potatoes. Hell, I miss heroin, but I quit that, too. It was basically heavy-duty Atkins and hitting the gym. My electric guitar now goes where it's supposed to be."

So it's a smaller Steve Earle, but he's still in the big middle of things.

jbeal@express-news.net

email kwru@kwru.org