Politics light up Steve Earle’s senses and make him come alive: In his current role as pointed critic of the Bush administration and the Iraq war, his voice attains the warm, droning growl of a dog about to strike, and self-assurance flows out of him. The Revolution Starts…Now extends his delight in occupying the strangely wide-open territory of protest rock. He’s more vehement than ever before, and the music feels rag-and-bone honest. Vignettes from a regular guy’s point of view — “Rich Man’s War” and “Home to Houston” — still represent his best literary trick, but there’s a bitterly funny mock calypso called “Condi, Condi” about our National Security Adviser, and a few hard-Stones anthemic stomps (the title track as well as “F the CC,” not so much a screed against Michael Powell as a salute to political resistance of all kinds). None of these unflashy songs sticks in your head for long. But they all have something in common with the news channels Earle probably glues himself to: They’re more useful than polished meditations.

DOWNLOAD THESE “F the CC,” “The Revolution Starts Now,” “Condi, Condi”