Post by Adey on Nov 15, 2008 15:52:41 GMT
I've just been listening to a radio interview with Seasick Steve featuring some solo live performances by the man himself. He came to the attention of the British public a year or so ago and I've been hooked ever since.
Now, first let me say that if you haven't heard Steve, you should look him up without further delay. He's the real deal. An absolute original. An older white man who has been dirt poor all of his life. He's been a farmer's labourer, fruit picker, hobo and he's gone right across the underbelly of American Country life. He's gone from town lockups for drunkeness to stolen rides around the rails of the US states in the way that many men did whilst looking for work during the depression. And in his travels he's been a troubador, dragging around a piece of junk acoustic guitar thats been beaten to hell and back, stamping in time on a reinforced crate he calls the Mississippi drum machine and singing in his chocolate rich baritone voice of the things he's seen and done in his impossibly colourful life. His music sometimes saved him from starvation even when that tired old guitar was languishing in pawn shops in the latest town he was at. He makes the blues his own, but not in the way that many much more affluent and supposedly important white musicians did by the blatant theft of a disadvantaged black art form. His is an authentic distillation of that form, flavoured by original old white American country. It is a cousin and direct descendant of what we've come to recognise as Delta Blues. It is probably some of the most honest music you'll ever hear.
Listening to the interview today, he was asked about the election of Obama to President Elect. I loved his answer and jotted down as much of it as I could remember. He said words to the following:
"Man, I was around when Martin Luther king, Bobby Kennedy and those guys were what the future of our politics was all about. And in a year they was all dead. Thats when I switched off, just got on with the business of living my life. When I first heard a speach by Obama as he started his election campaign, I got a feeling inside. I was shaking and prickling at the same time. Man, I thought I was getting something wrong with me. But then I thought, my God, could this be pride? When Obama was elected, my first thought was Goddamn will you look at that - America went and stood up to the plate.."
Now he has arrived late and blinking into the light of the world music machine, he continues just to do his thing. And his quiet confidence, experiences and knowledge of who he is and where he came from, suggests that he won't be warped or altered by the exposure and celebrity. He expects a professional 3 yr career before he's thrown back to the obscurity he probably deserves (his own words). He still plays his crappy pawn shop guitars, cracked and re-inforced with gaffa tape, tuned in his own unique way and with only half the usual number of strings. But when you listen to him, you hear a form entirely stripped of artifice or excess.
Seasick Steve's latest album is "Started Out With Nothing and Still Got Most of it Left" Selling well in the UK, I don't know how well in the US. Or even if the American people have taken this authentic musical Son to their hearts.
If not, I hope at least some of you guys do. If you love music and the way it can get into your soul..
Here you go: just like Al does, I made it easy for you:
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Px8R2a7ZLpA&feature=related
(In this performance, someone decided he needed a couple of lady backing singers. Believe me, he sounds better without.)
Now, first let me say that if you haven't heard Steve, you should look him up without further delay. He's the real deal. An absolute original. An older white man who has been dirt poor all of his life. He's been a farmer's labourer, fruit picker, hobo and he's gone right across the underbelly of American Country life. He's gone from town lockups for drunkeness to stolen rides around the rails of the US states in the way that many men did whilst looking for work during the depression. And in his travels he's been a troubador, dragging around a piece of junk acoustic guitar thats been beaten to hell and back, stamping in time on a reinforced crate he calls the Mississippi drum machine and singing in his chocolate rich baritone voice of the things he's seen and done in his impossibly colourful life. His music sometimes saved him from starvation even when that tired old guitar was languishing in pawn shops in the latest town he was at. He makes the blues his own, but not in the way that many much more affluent and supposedly important white musicians did by the blatant theft of a disadvantaged black art form. His is an authentic distillation of that form, flavoured by original old white American country. It is a cousin and direct descendant of what we've come to recognise as Delta Blues. It is probably some of the most honest music you'll ever hear.
Listening to the interview today, he was asked about the election of Obama to President Elect. I loved his answer and jotted down as much of it as I could remember. He said words to the following:
"Man, I was around when Martin Luther king, Bobby Kennedy and those guys were what the future of our politics was all about. And in a year they was all dead. Thats when I switched off, just got on with the business of living my life. When I first heard a speach by Obama as he started his election campaign, I got a feeling inside. I was shaking and prickling at the same time. Man, I thought I was getting something wrong with me. But then I thought, my God, could this be pride? When Obama was elected, my first thought was Goddamn will you look at that - America went and stood up to the plate.."
Now he has arrived late and blinking into the light of the world music machine, he continues just to do his thing. And his quiet confidence, experiences and knowledge of who he is and where he came from, suggests that he won't be warped or altered by the exposure and celebrity. He expects a professional 3 yr career before he's thrown back to the obscurity he probably deserves (his own words). He still plays his crappy pawn shop guitars, cracked and re-inforced with gaffa tape, tuned in his own unique way and with only half the usual number of strings. But when you listen to him, you hear a form entirely stripped of artifice or excess.
Seasick Steve's latest album is "Started Out With Nothing and Still Got Most of it Left" Selling well in the UK, I don't know how well in the US. Or even if the American people have taken this authentic musical Son to their hearts.
If not, I hope at least some of you guys do. If you love music and the way it can get into your soul..
Here you go: just like Al does, I made it easy for you:
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Px8R2a7ZLpA&feature=related
(In this performance, someone decided he needed a couple of lady backing singers. Believe me, he sounds better without.)
