Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times Steve Earle in Greenwich Village.How was Steve Earle persuaded to write a literary memoir – the project he has called “the book I swore I would never write” – and a new novel on top of that? As that down-and-dirty singer-songwriter told the Web site themusic.com.au, “They made me an offer I couldn’t understand.”
Twelve, the literary imprint of Grand Central Publishing and the Hachette Book Group, said on Friday that it has acquired two books from Mr. Earle, the folk-rocker, activist and occasional actor, the first of which would be a memoir and the second a novel.
The publisher said in a statement that the memoir, planned for publication in the spring of 2014, will be “a literary work in three acts”:
The first section will focus on meeting Townes Van Zandt and the complicated friendship and musical mentorship that ensued, taking place in Texas and Tennessee. The second section will center on bottoming out in Nashville, culminating in a prison sentence, during which Steve got clean. The heart of the third and final section will be recovery, starting around the recording of the masterful album, “Train a Comin’”
Mr. Earle, who has previously written a short story collection, “Doghouse Roses,” and a novel, “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive,” told themusic.com.au that his memoir was “not an autobiography” but something “a little more abstract.”
“It doesn’t try and encompass every minute of my life,” Mr. Earle told the site. “I think it’s about something besides me. It’s really about heroes and mentors good and bad.”
Twelve said in its statement that the new novel by Mr. Earle will “tell the story of a runaway slave who survived the battle of the Alamo.” Its publication date was not immediately announced.
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