Like its predecessor, Jerusalem, The Revolution Starts Now is an assemblage of American musical forms: the crafted folk and country of Earle’s youth, the earnest rock ‘n’ roll embodied by Bruce Springsteen, the cacophonous fervor of modern-day garage rock and electronica. Arriving on the heels of September 11th, Jerusalem adopted a tone of dread and foreboding and contained some of the darkest material of Earle’s career. The Revolution Starts Now moves past that and embraces the optimism of early 2004, when the Bush administration’s days appeared to be numbered. Earle’s side ended up losing that particular battle, but rabble-rousing rock songs like “The Seeker” and “The Revolution Starts Now”— not to mention the blitzkrieg bop of “F the CC”— live on as impassioned, irreverent tokens of anti-government pro-populist sentiment in the mid-‘00s. But the tracks that give the album its heart and soul are “Comin’ Around” and “I Thought You Should Know,” two love songs that aren’t specifically political, but exude Earle’s renewed faith and optimism toward the world around him.