Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Steve Earle performs Monday night at Jefferson Center, Roanoke.

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• A different world for Steve Earle

Steve Earle has never been afraid to change musical paths.

The guy who first achieved notoriety with country-flavored rock has also dug deep into hard rock, bluegrass, and now, hip-hop-flavored folk-rock. He opened up his catalog to Jefferson Center’s Shaftman Hall on Monday night, exciting an estimated 700 people who weren’t the least bit spooked by the turntable grooves that pumped behind about half of his set.

But it was just Earle, his guitars and harmonicas for the first part of the set. And it seemed like that was all he needed as he burst through renditions of such originals as “The Devil’s Right Hand,” “Goodbye,” “Tom Ames’ Prayer” and “My Old Friend the Blues.”

It was all too much for one audience member, who repeatedly shouted: “Cut it loose! Cut the damn thing loose! Get on it, Steve!” Eventually, an usher settled him down.

As he blew through the chord-melody chunk of “Tennessee Stud,” DJ Neil McDonald practically sneaked in behind the turntables. Earle stopped playing. McDonald dialed in a beatbox sound, and they moved into material from Earle’s newest record, the Grammy-winning “Washington Square Serenade.”

The beat on “Tennessee Blues” seemed at first to overwhelm Earle’s percussive guitar strum, but maybe it was a matter of ears adjusting to the change. His vocals still cut through, a goodbye to his old, adopted hometown, Nashville, and hello to his new one.

“Blue dog on my floorboard, redhead by my side, crossing the mighty Hudson River to the New York City side,” he sang.

The redhead — Allison Moorer — was on hand, too. She had already performed a solo set, playing several songs from her new release, “Mockingbird,” a record she called a tribute to female singer-songwriters who inspired her. She had displayed deft guitar playing, whether fingerpicked or strummed, but had showed that her strongest weapon is still her chill-inducing alto voice, which never wavered, even at the top of her range.

Earle said in a recent interview that touring with Moorer was about keeping their marriage together. But it was clear after she joined him onstage to harmonize on such songs as their Grammy-nominated duet, “Days Aren’t Long Enough,” and “City Of Immigrants,” that they are a good onstage team, and a good double-bill, to boot.