Steve Earle Writing Memoirs To Pay For Son's Treatment

Legendary songwriter Steve Earle has admitted today that he is writing his memoirs – the book he swore he'd never write – to pay for autism treatment for his two-year-old son.

Speaking at a keynote speech at Brisbane music industry conference BIGSOUND this morning, Earle told the crowd that it was the first time he'd ever done anything for money.

“I've never done anything for money before, but I'm doing a few things now,” he said, “I don't think I'm going to hell for it.”

Earle said that the treatment for the condition was beyond what he could currently afford. “No insurance covers it, you gotta pay for it out of your own pocket… And it's really expensive.” He also said that he would be raising money for awareness of the condition, which he described as an “epidemic.”

He admitted that the news wasn't public but felt that BIGSOUND was "as good a place as any" to reveal it.

The Grammy-award winning songwriter describes his upcoming memoirs, which theMusic.com.au broke the news of earlier this month, as “the book I swore I'd never write.”

In his keynote Earle also explained that after decades of clearing debts relating to IRS and child support, he recently re-evaluated his revenue streams and is not against licensing for ads as a result. He also spoke intimately of his hero Townes Van Zandt and the “cult” the late singer-songwriter attracted.

Some other choice quotes included:

"[I] make an embarrassing amount of money for a borderline Marxist."

"I'm all about St Kilda when I'm in Melbourne... That's mostly Paul Kelly's fault."

On Townes Van Zandt's label head/manager Kevin Eggers: "He made all the wrong decisions... In my opinion the worst producer, manager ever."

Follow out live BIGSOUND coverage here.