In 1974, at the age of 19, Earle moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and began working blue-collar jobs during the day and playing music at night. During this period Earle wrote songs and played bass guitar in Guy Clark's band and sang on Clark's 1975 album "Old No. 1". Earle appeared in the 1976 film "Heartworn Highways", a documentary on the Nashville music scene which included David Allan Coe, Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt and Rodney Crowell. Earle lived in Nashville for several years and assumed the position of staff songwriter at the publishing company Sunbury Dunbar. Later Earle grew tired of Nashville and returned to Texas where he started a band called The Dukes.