Perhpas Joe offer or another Mudcat Elf can correct the spelling to Earle so folks googling might find it more easily.

I've been listening to Steve Earle and awful lot lately. I'm told he is an acquired taste but I've always loved his phrasing. My husband finds his accent to be mildly annoying since it sounds to him like something of a put-on. Does anybody know if his singing accent is a real regional texas accent or is it a stylized sort of thing along the lines of Bruce Springteen's evolving singing accent that went from a South Jersey/Delawarian accent over the years to some kind of idealized nasal Americana-accent that exists nowhere and everywhere?