The first Earle cd i ever bought...and still my favorite. Forget Springsteen, Earle is...was...the true champion of the common man. the downtrodden,the guy caught up in a bad situation whether his own fault or not. He started to change his style after this, and i started losing interest. This is Steve and the Dukes,at times, bordering on Country/Metal...and as a Harley rider, his lyrics strike a chord with me...NOWADAYS I GOT ME TWO GOOD WHEELS,I SEEK REFUGE IN ALUMINUM AND STEEL,YEAH IT TAKES ME OUT THERE FOR A LITTLE WHILE, AND THE YEARS ROLL AWAY WITH EVERY MILE. And Hard Way boasts the absolute best lineup of songs he's ever put together..Billy Austin,Justice in Ontario,Regular Guy,and Promise You Anything with Stacey Earle harmonizing.An overlooked masterpiece. Really makes me wonder at peoples taste in music when you have to scour the used bins for stuff this good.....

Most people don't write or play so well without any impediments. "Hard Way" came to be during the worst of Earle's drug addiction and it's clearly a crucible time for him. Writing's amazing as always--singing and orchestration are also good. Of course, as many folks way, Steve can't make a bad CD.

"Billy Austin" is one of the hardest songs I've ever heard. Earle can write and sing from the point of view of an outlaw better than almost anyone I've heard. "Justice in Ontario" continues that theme. Ironic Earle himself followed this CD with time in prison.

This CD's labeled country, but I'm seeing too many rock elements to leave it strictly at that.

For all the fog and dim that engulfed his personal life, Steve Earle found a way to take the words and music in his head to the studio and bring it to life with a undefineable mix of growling guitars, flittering mandolins, punctuated snare hits, with his distinctive vocal approach that defies the listener to dare question his honesty. First person, "I am living this song" attitude throughout, it invites you to participate in more than just a casual manner. Earle moves closer to his own influences, invoking George Harrison's Gretsch guitar jangle and Beatles harmonies in Promise You Anything, and then on to the current darker places with "Esmeralda's Hollywood"; revealing his own shadows. Included is the masterful "Billy Austin" exploring the intracacies of a murderer's thinking process and the subsequent followup, "Justice in Ontario.

Different from his first offerings, in that pedal steel prominence has been replaced with authoritative six strings attacked with more than a nod to the arm flailing of a Pete Townsend, The Hard Way brings us straight ahead rock and roll. Borrowing a crunch from fellow Texan Billy Gibbons, "This Highway" starts out with a blues rock riff and a narrative that warns of danger and salvation at the same time only to resurface in the apt titled, "West Nashville Boogie". "Country Girl" takes us back to a honkey tonk setting and then he hints at the forebearer of his Celtic fascinations to come, Regular Guy. Earle picks up whatever instrument serves his purpose and cares not one iota if it fits any notion of formula.

An epic in terms of dramatic pacing and tempo, Steve Earle arrives near the top of America's song writing precipace and gives us a look over the edge. A "must have" collection for anyone who is serious about whats behind the music.

This album is autobiographical. Drugs, guns, and anger. This was Steve Earles world when he wrote and recorded these songs. Steve Earle will offer no appoligies, His words of wisdom, If you don't like it don't listen. His fans however are fiercly loyal, if you don't believe that, just say something bad about Steve Earle around one. Even if you have never heard of Steve Earle, and because of his politics theres a good chance you haven't, buy this CD. There has never been a better album recorded, in any genre of music. And there never will be.

Steve Earle was coming off the release of "Copperhead Road," before he made this album. That disc showed him turning from a countrified Bruce Springsteen to a straight-out rocker with an eye for the mindset of the underdog. "The Hard Way" continues the trend - detailed story-songs like "Justice In Ontario" and "Billy Austin," an anti-death penalty tale that is among Earle's top works. The Dukes sound like bobcats in a bag snarling to get out, all broken glass and motorcycle engines (one of which would have better if it had been absent from the song "This Highway's Mine"). Some of the production seems done just to made Earle seem big and bad, and Id be rather interested in hearing how a song like "Hopeless Romantics" would sound if it were included on one of his later discs. Listeners get a sense of some of Earle's personal problems in songs such as "West Nashville Boogie." It's a wonderful album, but with some flaws not present on other Earle discs.