The further into his career he went, the more politicised Steve Earle became in his songwriting. Only a talent as raw and real as his could pen an anti-Confederate flag protest like "Mississippi It's Time" without sounding pedantic, or team with NY-based Brazilians Forro in the Dark for the salute to multiculturalism "City of Immigrants" and sound just as natural as he does on his country-rocking rave-ups.