Seasick Steve - I Started Out With Nothin' And I Still Got Most Of It Left
Everybody's favourite hobo comes home to roost in disappointingly bland style
You all know the 'Seasick' Steve Wold story by now: boy is taught how to play guitar by Mississippi blues man KC Douglas; boy leaves home to escape abusive stepfather; boy finds refuge as a hobo, hopping freight trains to make his way round the country while putting tales of wanderlust to music. Somehow, decades later, boy ends up on Jools Holland and becomes a staple on the UK's festival circuit, bizarrely bagging himself a Best Breakthrough Artist MOJO in the process. Y'know, that old chestnut.
And if that rags to riches tale doesn't thaw your frigid heart, then see the guy in person. Even the most puritanical gig goer would find it hard to knock Wold's live shows. Punctuated with likeable anecdotes of his time on the road, the intoxicating spectacle of him beating out ditties on his home-made one and three stringed guitars whilst rhythmically kicking the shit out of his Mississippi Drum Machine (a wooden box, in case you were wondering) is one to behold. Seasick Steve has never been a pioneering blues singer by anyone's reckoning, but with his novel approach to performing he caught the eye of the nation and for that, he should be commended.
But to anyone who has seen him live, I Started Out With Nothin' may very well underwhelm. Simply put: it pales in comparison. The transition of novelty performance to recording is rarely smooth, which is why nobody ever watches a circus show on dvd. Without the live visual stimulus and interaction, much of Seasick Steve's appeal disappears in a cloud of Mississippi dust.
Wold's last album Dog House Blues, laid down in his kitchen, managed to retain some of the restless impulse and dungaree clad bumpkinness of his past life, largely due to its rustic recording methods. His major label debut however, is a bridge too far. You can't fault him for wanting to progress, but with the graduation to shiny studio and the professionalism that comes with it, his unique selling point is inevitably jeopardised. His blues aren't so raw any more and often sound treated and processed.
Despite the production upgrade, Wold is in no mood to defy the stereotype lyrically, spinning tried and tested vagabond yarns of boozing (on Thunderbird), losing (One True is a tribute to his dead dog) and of course, cruising (On Prospect Lane is an ode to freight jumping). But if the tales are bona fide, then the tunes are for the most part forgettable. Grinderman provide decent star turn tonic on the brisk Just Like A King while backing vocals from Ruby Turner and, to a lesser extent, KT Tunstall add some soul to the otherwise bland opening title track and Happy Man, respectively.
It's not as though there's anything truly awful about I Started Out With Nothin', but with the notable exception of Walking Man, there's little here to inspire further listening. The gravelly spoken word introductions begin to grate after a few spins and any sense of novelty that might initially greet the record is drained by an overriding blandness.
In time, this particular Zeitgeist will sail and the music industry will tire of Seasick Steve, but - based on this evidence - that may be sooner rather than later. [Finbarr Bermingham]
Seasick Steve plays Glasgow Barrowlands on 21 Oct, Aberdeen Music Hall on 23 Oct and Edinburgh Queens Hall on 25 Oct.