I agree with the majority opinion that Steve Earl is not folk. He rocks TOO much, imho. They had a recording of a live session he and his band did on the World Cafe radio program last week, in prep for a concert he gave in town last night. The World Cafe originates from a staion here in Phila, but it's syndicated and webcast < xpn.org >, so you may be able to catch it where you are.

However, a bunch of the other folks mentioned above DO get categorized in my mind as folk or country/folk-Guy Clark, the late Townes Van Zandt, Lucinda Williams, as well as Nancy Griffith, Iris DeMent, etc. I realize a lot of Lyle Lovett's large band stuff has a pretty "thick", produced sound to be close to folk, but listen to If I had a Boat, on Pontiac, to hear the folky side of Lyle.

Marymac