Steve Earle was gifted, twenty, and ready to storm the music world with this magical tale of mercenaries fighting for "greenback dollars or a few pesos down Mexico way."
Some shit never changes.
The footage is from 1975's "Heartworn Highways" (released, 1981), a documentary about songwriter/troubadour Townes Van Zandt and his crew of Austin/Nashville-based contemporaries.
Earle named his son after his mentor Van Zandt. Van Zandt, the writer of the alt-country/Outlaw standard "Poncho and Lefty," died of alcohol and heroin abuse in 1997 at age 53.
The best version of "Mercenary Song" can be found on Earle's masterpiece, "Train A-Comin."
TS
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