Seasick Steve: You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks (Liberator)

 |   |  <1 min read

Seasick Steve: Treasures
Seasick Steve: You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks (Liberator)

Steve – who makes or adapts his own guitars, counted Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain as friends and had Grinderman, Ruby Turner and KT Tunstall on his raw 08 album Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most of It Left – has been a hobo, busker and record producer in his time, and his blues-infused albums reflect stories of a hard life.

He got his break on an '06 Jools Holland show and has won many awards since, but still sounds like he's crawled from a Mississippi swamp here on songs like the Muddy Waters-influenced Burnin' Up.

Close in spirit to characters like T-Model Ford, the late RL Burnside and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Steve can shift from folk-blues (Treasures with banjo and fiddle, Whiskey Ballad) to acoustic funk (Have Mercy on the Lonely) and explosive electric playing with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones on bass (the throbbing title track, Back in the Doghouse).

There are some songs where he repeats a style (What A Way to Go and Party don't add much other than more razor-wire playing) and the weaker material doubtless brushes up menacing when delivered live.

The bonus hidden track is a one-listen, 12 minute rambling story about hitching around in '67 . . . which tells you he should stick to singing them raw'n'rowdy blues.

Like the sound of this? Then turn an ear to this guy.

Share It

Your Comments

Pete - Jun 22, 2011

This guy is absolutely amazing. Can you buy it in NZ

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

The Japanese House: Good at Falling (Dirty Hit/Sony)

The Japanese House: Good at Falling (Dirty Hit/Sony)

After a string of singles, EPs and tie-in videos over the past four years, Britain's Japanese House (aka Amber Bain) finally releases this frequently attractive, poised and occasionally hollow but... > Read more

Hellsongs: Minor Misdemeanors (Lovely/Yellow Eye)

Hellsongs: Minor Misdemeanors (Lovely/Yellow Eye)

This outing follows a similar path to the previous Hellsongs album Hymns in the Key of 666 where metal songs were delivered in a quiet, almost pastoral manner or inna lounge style. A rather... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Joanna's pre- and post-hangover potato and chorizo melange

Joanna's pre- and post-hangover potato and chorizo melange

Joanna says "this goes really well with lots of red wine. The leftovers go really well with the hangover in the morning" so we can't say we aren't warned. And we've just learned a little... > Read more

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . SPADE COOLEY: Shame on him

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . SPADE COOLEY: Shame on him

When country singer Spade Cooley went face down after a heart attack in November 1969 there were doubtless a few would have said he deserved to die, and that it should have happened sooner.... > Read more