From the UNofficial Steve Earle website:

"Stephen Fain Earle was born on 17 January 1955 in Ft. Monroe, Virginia, where his father was stationed as an air traffic controller. When Steve's due date approached, a family member was selected and sent to Virginia with a small Prince Albert tobacco tin of Lone Star dirt from the family farm. Grandmama said the dirt was spread in a flat pan and the little fellow was held up and his feet imprinted in the Texas dirt. While the family had to accept that his birth certificate said Virginia, Steve's granddaddy and uncles were satisfied that the first soil his feet ever touched was Texan."