Around a month and a half ago at the BRIT Awards – the UK’s answer to the Grammys – it was all about the pomp and ceremony, the glitz and the glamour, well dressed industry types swanning around sipping Cristal and generally imposing upon anyone who cared to listen, an air of sophisticated self-importance. And then there was Seasick Steve. Nominated for Best International Male alongside the likes of Neil Diamond, Beck, Jay-Z and Kanye West, Seasick Steve, otherwise known as Steve Wold, kept it real. An oasis of reality in a sea of jumped-up falsity. A bluesman, up for the major award against some of the industry’s ‘heavy-hitters’ – a farce? A ridiculous notion? As Wold himself coyly suggests, “I don’t think it’s got a whole lot to do with music,” but does it? The scruffy, raucous child that is the blues has reappeared on the world music stage to a mainstream audience thanks to Seasick Steve, and this is nothing to be sneezed at.“It’s a little bit amazing,” he confirmed with a laugh, when I caught up with him a few weeks before the awards, in his usual genial manner – one page is hardly enough to capture the man’s plethora of one-liners and witty observations. The fact the gong was eventually taken out by West, confirming Wold’s suspicions, means nothing. The fact he was nominated at all means everything. For a modern day bluesman to be lauded with the likes of West and Co, well, this says something about the changing tastes of today’s greater music listening public. “If it has an effect, maybe opening the doors for some people playing this music, then I’ll have really done something,” Wold says adamantly.
From literal hobo beginnings, to having fans the planet over, I think it’s safe to say Seasick Steve has indeed already done something, and something good, both for himself, and the blues – the fact he’s playing a venue like the Hammersmith Apollo to 5000 people, as he did the week prior to our conversation, says far more than anything some fancy award ever could.
Anyway, to the issue at hand, which right now is Wold’s newest record I Started Out With Nothin’ And I Still Got Most Of It Left. The difference here to his solo debut, ‘06’s Dog House Music, the record responsible for bringing the man to such international acclaim, is that I started Out… was recorded in a studio, as opposed to at his kitchen table (a large part of the appeal of Dog House Music).
“When I made Dog House Music, I wasn’t making a record,” Wold explains. “I’d just had a heart attack and I had nothing to do at the time… so I just sat in the kitchen, my wife said, ‘Can you just sit in there and record some songs”, just to get me to do something. This time, when I went to make a record, I went into a studio and actually paid attention.”
Don’t despair though, for the relocation to more conventional surrounds does nothing to dampen the rawness of Wold’s music, plus in this instance, it’s not just the man and his trusty three-stringed guitar. First of all, the ebullient Dan Magnusson provides some sterling percussion throughout, and secondly, on the song ‘Happy Man’, we see some rhythm guitar courtesy of KT Tunstall, and vocals care of Ruby Hunter. The real surprise, however, comes with ‘Just Like A King’, which to my complete surprise, was co-written with our own Nick Cave, and features the members of Grinderman.
“The girl doin’ the press for me back then is married to the drummer,” laughs Wold, explaining the initial connection. “I just loved their band, and when it came time to do the record, I was talking to her again and asked her if they’d like to come and play, and they said they really wanted to come. So they did, and we did the song together.” Seasick goes on to say how, as a result, he discovered the Bad Seeds, which begs the question, what was it like co-writing a song with Nick Cave? “What we did was, I wrote the song but I thought he could just make up a verse which’d sound really cool… he was in this swivel chair, and he turned to the window, sat there for about a minute and a half with a piece of paper, then just turned around and handed me the verse… he was dead good.”
From riding the rails as a kid, to co-writing with Nick Cave and being nominated for awards against the likes of Kanye West – the rise of Seasick Steve continues to be meteoric, and if the blues is just lucky enough, he’ll keep on going until he can’t go no more. That’s all he wants, and that’s all we ask.
I Started Out With Nothin’ And I Still Got Most Of It Left is available through Warner Music. Seasick Steve plays this year’s Byron Bluesfest, details in the Program.