His 1990 album "The Hard Way" had a strong rock sound and was followed by "a shoddy live album" called "Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator". In August 1991, Earle appeared on the TV show "The Texas Connection" "looking pale and blown out". In light of Earle's "increasing drug use", MCA Records did not renew his contract and Earle didn't record any music for the next four years. By July 1993 Earle was reported to have regained his normal weight and had started to write new material. At that time a writer for the "Chicago Sun-Times" called Earle "a visionary symbol of the New Traditionalist movement in country music."