In 1988, country rocker Steve Earle released his third studio album Copperhead Road in 1988. The lead single, Copperhead Road became his first top ten song on the Mainstream Rock charts peaking at number ten in 1988. He followed it up with another top 20 hit on the Rock charts with Back to the Wall, which peaked at number 20.
Enjoy this look back at Steve Earle’s music video for Copperhead Road from 1988!
Pettimore enlists in the Army on his birthday, believing he will soon be drafted, and serves two tours of duty in Vietnam. Once he returns home, he decides to use the Copperhead Road land to grow marijuana, using seeds from Colombia and Mexico. He resolves not to be caught by the DEA using techniques learnt from the Viet Cong . Copperhead Road was an actual road near Mountain City, Tennessee, in an area known to locals as “Big Dry Run” although it has since been renamed Copperhead Hollow Road, owing to theft of road signs bearing the song’s name. The song also inspired a popular line dance, timed to the same beat, and has been used as the theme music for the Discovery Channel reality series