Running shine in East Tennessee is what John Lee Pettimore did. Then after 'nam, Pettimore III came home with a new plan- pot! In 1988, Steve Earle recorded Copperhead Road and told the story on his breakthrough album, Guitar Town. Copperhead Road was an actual road near Mountain City, Tennessee, although it has since been renamed Copperhead Hollow Road, owing to theft of road signs bearing the song's name.
Since then Earle has released 15 other studio albums. He has received three Grammy awards. His songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Shawn Colvin, Ian Stuart Donaldson and Emmylou Harris. He has appeared in film and television, and has written a novel, a play, and a book of short stories. On February 17, 2015, Earle released his sixteenth studio album, Terraplane.