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.

Steve's birth was followed by the births of two brothers and two sisters.

Steve, the eldest child of Jack and Barbara Thomas Earle, grew up in Schertz, Texas, which is 17 miles north of San Antonio, with younger siblings Mark, Kelly, Stacey, and Pat.

Steve got his first guitar at age 11, and in two years had mastered the instrument to the point where he was able to place third in the Schertz school district's annual talent show.

At 14, Steve left home for Houston to join his uncle Nick Fain, who was only 19 himself at the time. Nick encouraged Steve's guitar playing and soon after, Steve met Townes Van Zandt, who inspired him to make music his career. (Steve later commented on TVZ... "He was a real good teacher and a real bad role model.") At 19, Steve made his way to Nashville.

Before he left Texas, Steve attended O. G. Weiderstein elementary school, O. Henry Junior High School, made a short appearance at Holmes High School, and had his second theatrical debut in The World Of Carl Sandburg. Steve didn't leave high school before making friends with some others who were caught somewhere between the "kicker" (who wore western clothes, boots, were squeaky clean, did rodeo [or pretended to]) and "surfer" (the kids who wore 'cool clothes' like pegged down hip huggers, crop tops, and love beads... the guys wore bell bottomed pants, t-shirts and wore their hair as long as the school establishment would allow) factions. Bubba, a recurring character in Steve's songs, is apparently a composite of these friends.

While struggling in the music industry, Steve paid the bills by taking on odd jobs. "I've never had a job longer than three months in my life. I've always led a bohemian lifestyle. I have framed houses, worked on oil rigs, worked on shrimp boats and in restaurants, but it was different for me because I knew I was always going to get out". Steve worked offshore for a month. "I came back with the most money I'd ever had in my life and I got in the most trouble I'd ever gotten into my life", he recalls.

In Nashville, Steve played in various bands to support himself. Steve's first known professional recording was with Guy Clark on Guy's 1975 album Old No. 1. Steve sang back-up vocals (along with Rodney Crowell, Sammy Smith, and Emmylou Harris ["The first time I met Emmylou, she came in to sing on Guy Clark's first album. She gave me half of her cheeseburger. I wasn't the same for weeks."]) on the song Desperados Waiting For A Train. Steve toured with Guy from early '75 until late '76. Steve also may have appeared in Robert Altman's 1975 film, Nashville (he was part of a large crowd scene in Centennial Park, but it's not clear whether he actually shows up in the film).

Steve eventually wrote songs that were recorded by some major musical players at the time. After landing his first publishing deal with Sunbury Dunbar (a division of RCA) in November '75 (he was with them until '78), he received $75 per week draw as a staff writer.

Steve almost had a song, Mustang Wine, recorded by Elvis Presley in 1975... but Elvis never showed up for the session. The song was recorded by Carl Perkins the next year, and Johnny Lee had a Top 10 hit in 1982 with When You Fall In Love, a song that Steve co-wrote with John Scott Sherrill.

From 1982-1985, Steve recorded some rockabilly tracks for Epic, but Epic did a poor job promoting him and the singles had little success. The songs from a 7" vinyl EP released in 1982, Pink & Black, later showed up in the post-Guitar Town (1986) frenzy as Early Tracks (1987). Epic wasn't totally stupid