Currently in my CD player:
About the closest Earle comes to optimism is on the closing "This City," an ode to New Orleans that declares, "This city will never drown." That song has a companion piece, "The Gulf of Mexico," an actual sea chantey that makes a nod to Earle's own history on the Gulf Coast.
Some of my favorite songs of all time are Steve Earle's Irish tunes, but Cajun-Irish? I'm having a hard time getting my ears wrapped around that one.