Music |
Seasick Steve
By
Published: Aug 13, 2009
Category:
Blues
There are unlikely success stories, and then there is Seasick Steve.
Born Steven Gene Wold, Seasick Steve is in his 60s, lives in Norway, mostly plays a three-string guitar that came from a Goodwill store. Eight years ago, he had a heart attack. His wife suggested that he record some songs — in his view, so she’d have something to remember him by if he kicked off.
It wasn’t hard to make Dog House Stories:
I got a 4-track recorder. I used an old microphone from the 1930s, plugged directly into the tape recorder — it was real raw. I sat right there and recorded a whole album like that. Except for when my boy played some drums in the other room! I played the spoons on one song too.
His songs reached Jools Holland, who booked him on his 2006 New Year’s Eve television show. Steve introduced his band — The Trance Wonder (his weather-beaten guitar) and The Mississippi Drum Machine (a wooden box he stomped on) — and commenced to play a nasty countrified boogie. Ten seconds in, the audience was on its feet. See for yourself.
Seasick Steve is now big in Europe. He knows why: "Everything had gotten pretty fancy, and it had been a long time since somebody’d come along, stamp on the ground and yell.”
He has, however, not much faith that his version of the blues will lead to sustained popularity: "I remember back in the ’60s when they dragged all them old black guys out of the woodwork to play for all the college kids. That lasted a whole couple of years. Then they sent them right back to the farm."
Maybe, but this guy has a better story than anyone since R.L. Burnside. Left home at 13. Hopped freight trains. Worked on farms and in carnivals. Played with Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker. Moved to Paris, played on the Metro and in small cafes. Moved to the Northwest, became a friend of Kurt Cobain. Worked as a recording engineer and producer. Moved to Norway with his wife and their five kids.
And the CD? Couldn’t be simpler, just as the recording method suggests. “Testing, one, two,” Steve says, and then launches into some violent raunch blues. Remember the first Cream record? It’s like that, just as a solo act, recorded in monaural, with occasional segues to acoustic guitar and shaggy dog stories. Exciting? I can’t get my foot to stop tapping.
Boogie, children.
To buy “Dog House Music” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy the MP3 download of “Dog House Music” from Amazon.com, click here.
To visit Seasick Steve’s web site, click here.
