To Steve Earle

Steve,
Been reading your book of short stories, Doghouse Roses. I like it. I like the grit and focus on the common people. I like that your main character is often a guitar player. I like the drinking and traveling and bad relationships, the hitchhiking and hard work. I like the view from the wrong side of the law. I like the down to earth expression.
But Steve...there's something that really disappoints me.
The thing is, is that you don't have the guts to write in first person, or at least the real kind of first person. I can't tell you how disappointing that is, but I can tell you that your writing would be much better if you did have those kind of guts, the kind of guts to do that. To really lay it down from the heart, rather than just appearing to do so.
There are a number of writers out there who have had such courage. You may know of some of them, and then again you may not. Townes may have done it in song, and Guy Clark certainly has, but here we're talking about prose.
It takes courage, and only a few have had it.
Too bad you're not one of them. It would have been nicer if you were.