Seasick Steve - Keepin' The Horse Between Me And The Ground

Seasick Steve - Keepin' The Horse Between Me And The Ground - 2016

New Year’s Eve will mark 10 years since Seasick Steve thrust a blues-powered rocket under Jools Holland’s cosy TV Hootenanny and became an instant sensation with his grizzled hobo persona and self-customised guitars which proceeded to lay waste to the world’s festivals and have produced seven idiosyncratic, invariably sizzling studio albums.

Now in his mid-70s, Steve takes a more reflective approach on his latest, dispensing with drums and kicking back for some captivating reflections, electric blues uproar and well-chosen cover versions. Though the title track whips up his time-honoured serrated guitar boogie, there’s an intimate warmth to outings such as the quietly defiant Maybe I Might and riveting Hard Knocks which, after Steve audibly plugs in, feels like he’s plotted up in the same room as he recounts his life lessons up close. The 60s cover versions fit beautifully into this reflective vein, including Glenn Campbell’s Gentle On My Mind and Fred Neil’s Everybody’s Talkin’.

Over the 20 tracks spread over two discs, Steve lives every subtle nuance he wrings out of his voice or guitar. Now one of our most articulate links to a vanishing past, he deserves to be treasured.

CD 1
01. Keep That Horse Between You And The Ground
02. Walkin’ Blues
03. Bullseye
04. Gypsy Blood
05. Shipwreck Love
06. Hell
07. What A Thang
08. Grass Is Greener
09. Don’t Take It Away
10. Lonely Road

CD 2
01. Hard Knocks
02. Maybe I Might
03. Gentle On My Mind
04. Ride
05. Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me
06. Walkin' Man
07. Southern Biscuits
08. Gonna Get There
09. Signed D.C.
10. I’m So Lonesome




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