“Copperhead Road” is a song about destination. Depending on the generation, the destination could be smuggling pot, or moonshine. If you are poor and living in rural America, the destination could be war. Steve Earle has painted tales like these vividly over a droning mixture of rock and bluegrass; he’s an unpredictable renegade who happens to be one of the best modern troubadours of the rural South.
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In 1988, Earle released “Copperhead Road” as the title track to his third studio album. 35 years later, it was named one of Tennessee’s official state songs.
As a teenager, Earle wanted to follow Bob Dylan’s road. He left Texas for Greenwich Village because, as far as he was concerned, that’s where rock and roll became literature. He didn’t make it to New York, though. Nashville stood in the way and became his new destination. Earle developed his songwriting chops under luminaries like Townes Van Zandt and released his first album, Guitar Town, in 1986. Then drug and alcohol addiction landed him in prison. He recovered, though, and finally made his way to New York City.
“Copperhead Road” is a touchstone in American songwriting. Its portrayal of rural life in the South zooms out to connect broader issues of class, international conflict, and the war on drugs.
The Meaning Behind the Song
“Copperhead Road” is narrated by John Lee Pettimore III. His father and grandfather bootlegged moonshine in rural Tennessee. Pettimore’s father moved moonshine in an old police car and his grandfather—who rarely came to town—set up a still on Copperhead Road.
Well, my name’s John Lee Pettimore
Same as my daddy and his daddy before
You hardly ever saw grandaddy down here
He only came to town about twice a year
He’d buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
Everybody knew that he made moonshine
Pettimore, a Vietnam veteran, grows and smuggles marijuana along Copperhead Road, using his experience in Vietnam to avoid the DEA.
Now the DEA’s got a chopper in the air
Wake up screaming like I’m back over there
I learned a thing or two from Charlie don’t you know
You better stay away from Copperhead Road
The Pettimore family in “Copperhead Road” acts with cleverness to avoid punishment from a country that’s responsible for their desperate situation.
Now the revenue man wanted grandaddy bad
Headed up the holler with everything he had
Before my time but I’ve been told
He never come back from Copperhead Road
[RELATED: 7 Songs You Didn’t Know Steve Earle Wrote for Other Artists]
About Steve Earle
Steve Earle is an acclaimed Americana singer-songwriter. His songs have been recorded by Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, and the Pretenders. And music isn’t enough to cure Earle’s restlessness. He’s published a novel and a collection of short stories. As an actor, he’s appeared in the off-Broadway play Samara, as well as two series on HBO, The Wire and Treme. He also hosts Hard Core Troubadour, a weekly show on SiriusXM Radio’s Outlaw Country channel.
Earle was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020. He’s won three Grammy Awards over 16 nominations.
About the Song
The song opens on a droning ‘D’ along with what sounds like synthesized bagpipes; this is to pay homage to the 17th century Irish and Scottish settlers who planted the seeds for bluegrass music in America.
“Copperhead Road” is a heavy bluegrass stomp led by Earle’s lyrical mandolin. The song crescendos with a wall of Telecasters and ultimately combines multiple genres of music—it sounds like what would have happened if Bill Monroe had formed a band with Jimmy Page.
Copperhead Road was once the name of a road near Mountain City, Tennessee. Earle’s fans repeatedly stole the road signs causing the road’s name to be changed to Copperhead Hollow Road.
“Copperhead Road” was the first single from the album Copperhead Road. It reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Rock Tracks chart. Earle co-produced the song with Tony Brown.
Final Thoughts
Steve Earle, like Bruce Springsteen before him, made an anthem out of what was essentially a protest song. “Copperhead Road,” like “Born in the U.S.A.,” is a musical lament for the American working class.
“Copperhead Road” links the cycle of poverty and war with federal drug policy. Earle uses irony to show how John Lee Pettimore III escapes government law enforcement by using techniques taught to him as a soldier.
Steve Earle writes with clarity about how an unsustainable system self-destructs by using the very tools it created.
Photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns
