Earle Quietly Glad to Be Back

One hesitates to dismiss as trite something that’s heartening and necessary, but the story line of an artist’s return from drug-induced oblivion gets replayed so often that perhaps it’s best not to make too much of it.

That was clearly Steve Earle’s approach Saturday at the Coach House, where he played his first Southern California concert since a forced four-year sabbatical spent bottoming out and recovering.

A quickly mumbled “good to be back” early in the show was all that Earle, who turns 41 Wednesday, had to say about his recent struggles, aside from what was implicit in his music.

Earle’s singing voice, though still able to follow a melodic path over many a rough patch, is certainly worse for the wear that came with his long cycle of abuse--a cycle that ended with a 1994 arrest for heroin possession, followed by a short jail term and rehab.

The important thing is that Earle not only has made it back, but remains very, very good. He established himself from 1986-1990 as an A-list songwriter who straddled the line between literate country music and Springsteenian anthem rock; he still looks the part of a scraggly-bearded, tattooed biker renegade against Nashville’s customary polish and propriety.

In his career-spanning acoustic concert, Earle signaled that he has resumed normal business, with peak new songs not just hitting, but surpassing, the norms he established before his tailspin.

Things got off to an iffy start as a tinny sound mix blunted the impact of Earle’s accomplished band, the same lineup that backed him on his deservedly acclaimed, bluegrass-flavored 1995 comeback album “Train a Comin’.” The concert found its footing with “Goodbye,” a recent-vintage song that already has been covered by Emmylou Harris and has the makings of a folk-country standard.

Earle’s delivery of this aching ballad of loss and regret had the hushed and measured tone of internalized thought. Here was the most direct reflection on his lost years, but its lament felt universal, not like the stuff of celebrity true confessions: “Was I off somewhere, or just too high? / But I can’t remember if we said goodbye.”

In a powerful concert moment, Earle introduced his dark new gem, “Ellis Unit One,” which tells of a death row prison guard. The song stands out on the soundtrack album to “Dead Man Walking.”

* Steve Earle plays tonight at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. $15. (310) 276-6168.