Journeyman Steve Earle counts himself lucky.

Specifically, he says he’s lucky to have had two mentors early on who undeniably helped shape his career. Those two mentors would be Guy Clark, who let Earle play bass in his band, and Townes Van Zandt.

“When it comes to mentors, I’m glad I had both,” Earle said in his online bio. “If you asked Townes what’s it all about, he’d hand you a copy of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. If you asked Guy the same question, he’d take out a piece of paper and teach you how to diagram a song, what goes where. Townes was one of the all-time great writers, but he only finished three songs during the last 15 years of his life. Guy had cancer and wrote songs until the day he died…He painted, he built instruments, he owned a guitar shop in the Bay Area where the young Bobby Weir hung out. He was older and wiser. You hung around with him and knew why they call what artists do disciplines. Because he was disciplined.”

Whatever role those two played in forming Earle’s sound, we’re grateful for it.

Roughly 45 years after hitchhiking from San Antonio to Nashville, Earle is easily identified as a leading figure in country/folk/rock … if we can create one genre out of the three.

Some of his most popular tunes, such as “Copperhead Road” and “Feel Alright,” are up their in the cannon of country greats, yet they have the noteworthy quality of sounding different than the rest of the genre’s hits.

And at 64, the legend shows no signs of slowing down.

Don’t miss the chance to see Steve Earle and the Dukes at Crystal Bay Casino on Saturday, Aug. 17. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com. Learn more about Earle at http://www.steveearle.com.