CALIFORNIAN country blues singer-songwriter Seasick Steve will return to York Barbican on November 11 on his Just Steve, A Guitar and You Tour.
This will be one of nine intimate shows on the American’s autumn solo tour in support of his second album of 2020, Blues In Mono, released last November.
Oakland-born Steve – real name Steven Gene Leach, or Steven Gene Wold since he took his second wife’s name in the early 1980s – burst into the public consciousness 15 years ago with his life-hardened raw blues and custom-made scrap instruments, such as hubcap and cigar-box guitars.
Last year brought two albums, first Love & Peace, last July’s tenth studio set of tornado blues, full of hope for the future, against the tide of these troubled pandemic times, whereon he combined boogie, blues, rock, Americana and folk.
This was followed in the autumn by the aforementioned Blues In Mono, a timeless tribute to traditional, acoustic country blues recorded with a microphone from the 1940s, Steve performing the songs solo, direct to an old tape machine.
Coming next is a landmark birthday as Steve turns 70 on March 19. Come the autumn, he will play York Barbican for the first time since April 2015 in the only Yorkshire show of his November itinerary.
“I’m lookin’ forward to coming and playing for y’all,” he says. “Just gonna be me, you and my guitar. A few songs and a few stories, kinda like we just hangin’ out together! Gonna be fun. See ya there.”
Like us all, Seasick Steve cannot wait for the return of live shows, offering advice to fans between now and his November visit. “In the meantime, stay strong, work out and eat your vegetables!” he cautions.
Seasick Steve tickets go on sale from 9am on Friday (26/2/2021) at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Why is Seasick Steve so named?
AFTER Steve Wold became ill on a boat trip between Norway and Denmark, he adopted the name “Seasick Steve” as a parallel to that of blues musician Homesick James, going on to form the band Seasick Steve And The Level Devils.
