Seasick Steve, Electric Ballroom | reviews, news & interviews
Seasick Steve, Electric Ballroom
Seasick Steve, Electric Ballroom
Hobo-turned-bluesman gets down and dirty with his eccentric collection of guitars
Friday, 27 May 2011
Seasick Steve: The fewer the strings, the better
A guitar with one string? There is indeed such a thing. It’s played by Seasick Steve, and it consists of a stubby plank of wood, a pick-up and a couple of nails. And a string. The man born 70 years ago as Steven Wold plays it with a slide, and it makes a fabulous, sleazy sound. It’s one of a collection of manky-looking instruments played by Seasick Steve, the former hobo, drifter, session musician and studio engineer who has experienced a late blossoming in popularity as a bluesman and raconteur.
A guitar with one string? There is indeed such a thing. It’s played by Seasick Steve, and it consists of a stubby plank of wood, a pick-up and a couple of nails. And a string. The man born 70 years ago as Steven Wold plays it with a slide, and it makes a fabulous, sleazy sound. It’s one of a collection of manky-looking instruments played by Seasick Steve, the former hobo, drifter, session musician and studio engineer who has experienced a late blossoming in popularity as a bluesman and raconteur.
There’s something about the sound of a slide guitar that quickens the blood, gets the heart pumping, pings the synapses
Buy
Share this article
more New music
The Songs of Joni Mitchell, Roundhouse review - fans (old and new) toast to an icon of our age
A stellar line up of artists reimagine some of Mitchell’s most magnificent works
Album: Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
Taylor Swift bares her soul with a 31-track double album
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Record Store Day Special 2024
Annual edition checking out records exclusively available on this year's Record Store Day
Album: Jonny Drop • Andrew Ashong - The Puzzle Dust
Bottled sunshine from a Brit soul-jazz team-up
Album: Pearl Jam - Dark Matter
Enduring grunge icons return full of energy, arguably their most empowered yet
Album: Paraorchestra with Brett Anderson and Charles Hazlewood - Death Songbook
An uneven voyage into darkness
theartsdesk on Vinyl 83: Deep Purple, Annie Anxiety, Ghetts, WHAM!, Kaiser Chiefs, Butthole Surfers and more
The most wide-ranging regular record reviews in this galaxy
Album: EMEL - MRA
Tunisian-American singer's latest is fired with feminism and global electro-pop maximalism
Music Reissues Weekly: Congo Funk! - Sound Madness from the Shores of the Mighty Congo River
Assiduous exploration of the interconnected musical ecosystems of Brazzaville and Kinshasa
Ellie Goulding, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall review - a mellow evening of strings and song
Replacing dance beats with orchestral sounds gives the music a whole new feel
Album: A Certain Ratio - It All Comes Down to This
Veteran Mancunians undergo a further re-assessment and reinvention
Album: Maggie Rogers - Don't Forget Me
Rogers continues her knack for capturing natural moments, embracing a more live sound
Add comment