Wife and husband duo Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart play eloquent originals that blend honest country confession with polished pop precision. His voice is clear and unadorned, hers is both grittier and prettier, and together they make tuneful, tender music with a sharp sense of humor, as on “If You Change Your Mind” from their new album, Dedication, when they sing, “Oh, baby, if she treats you so right, why do you think about me?”

Stacey’s first show was on an arena stage in Sydney, Australia, in 1990, playing rhythm guitar in her brother's band, Steve Earle & the Dukes. Mark grew up playing guitar in Nashville honkytonks with his fiddler father, and later toured with Freddy Fender. The two met at a songwriters night in Nashville in 1992, married in 1993, and have been performing together ever since.

They have a house in Ashland City, Tennessee, but their true home is on the road, embarked as they are on the “Drive Her Till She Drops Tour” in a Chevy Suburban that’s already logged close to 500,000 miles. They must find poetry in the names of the towns – just since August they’ve gone from Wilmington, Delaware to Liverpool, Nova Scotia; Grand Rapids, Michigan to Oxford, New York; not to mention Maplewood, Missouri – and after Berkeley it’s on to Klamath Falls and Gig Harbor. Playing in so many places might be crazy. Or it might be dedication. Find out tonight at the Freight.

Visit Stacey & Mark's website

Listen to a track from Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart:

Photo by Bobby Kinnsly