SEASICK STEVE + KITTY MACFARLANE – DE LA WARR PAVILION, BEXHILL-ON-SEA 4.11.21
American blues musician Seasick Steve got his big break on New Year’s Eve 2006 with an invitation to appear on the BBC’s ‘Hootenanny’ TV show with Jools Holland. Having charmed the audience playing ‘Dog House Boogie’ with a three-string guitar and a stomp box, he became an instant hit in the UK, and later around the world, as offers of festival appearances came flooding in.
With his long grey beard and trucker’s cap, playing on a variety of personalised or modified instruments, he appears to epitomise a white-working-class variant of the traditional bluesman. Many songs recall the sort of itinerant casual work he did when younger. Having seized his chance, he has kept busy and in the public eye with nine subsequent studio albums. Having collaborated with other musicians, including former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, the current tour is promoting a more stripped back approach to recording and performing, with just Steve and a guitar. Recent release ‘Blues In Mono’ was recorded straight to tape and lacquer with a single vintage microphone, apparently with no mixing, effects or stereo. Tonight at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill is the first date of the run. It’s a seated show, and long since sold out.
Support tonight is from eco-folk singer songwriter Kitty Macfarlane, who is from Somerset. Standing house left of Seasick Steve’s array of guitars, she is simply lit with a few white spots which catch her long blonde hair and white blouse with a sort of shimmering, ethereal glow. An acoustic guitar is ready to go, but the first number utilises a control pad on a stand by the mic. The triggers launch field recordings of nature sounds, and a vibey low drone. Kitty’s voice is utterly beautiful, conveying a plaintive longing with a vocal line that reminds me of ‘She Moves Through The Fair.’ The lyrical content is focused on the natural world and our relationship with it, and there is warm applause as the song concludes.
Moving to guitar, Kitty’s playing is as delightful as her singing, with wonderfully fluid finger-picking and a lovely tone. It oozes through the PA like a sonic head massage.
“I’m not Seasick Steve,” she confides, raising a chuckle. Some extensive re-tuning is required, but she has mastered the art of chatting whilst doing so and is quite charming, elucidating the story behind each number. ‘Wrecking Days’, taking its inspiration from the Cornish coast, has a nicely strummed chord pattern with a capo high up the neck.
Introducing ‘Glass Eel’ we are treated to a long and strangely absorbing explanation of the mysterious life journey of the European eel. The song itself has bubbling arpeggios of picked guitar. ‘The Morgan’s Pantry’, a freaky tale of Somerset sea sirens, has the control surface back in action, with a low sustained moan of synth pads and sampled sea sounds.
“This is day one, and I’m like a bubbling ball of excitement.” Kitty is very grateful to be on the tour, and the audience has warmed to her too. She gets a massive cheer and round of applause. There’s one last explanation of the ancient craft of making sea silk, spun from the filament of giant Mediterranean clams, and the final piece includes samples of an Italian seamstress talking about her work. I’m very much taken with these songs and the quality of Kitty’s performance. There’s much to ponder in her lyrics and stories of our relationship with our environment, and I’d be interested to hear more.
Kitty Macfarlane setlist:
‘Starling Song’, ‘Man, Friendship’, ‘Wrecking Days’, ‘Glass Eel’, ‘The Morgan’s Pantry’, ‘Sea Silk’
The stage set for the main event is simple and rather cosy. A wooden chair with a tatty old cushion is surrounded by guitars of various sorts, plus a banjo and a tiny Roland Cube amplifier. A bottle of Bourbon and some glasses are arranged on a side table, and the scene is lit with an array of free standing lighting fixtures. Seasick Steve walks onto the stage shortly after 9pm, with an acoustic guitar carried casually on his shoulder. He gets an enthusiastic reception, and plugs in with a loud clunk.
The lyric of the opener has a pleasing circular logic: “I started out with nothin’ but I still got most of it left.” It is punctuated with busy flurries of slide guitar, and goes down a storm. Changes of instrument between songs give an opportunity for a chat, and Steve is charmingly engaging, with his drawling accent. There’s a discussion about what bumper cars should be called.
“Why d’you call ‘em dodgems? You supposed to dodge? Where I come from you’re supposed to bump!” All of this is leading to ‘Carni Days’, a song about roustabout work on travelling fairs, accompanied on a Resonator guitar.
There are a few numbers from ‘Blues In Mono’, with instrument changes between each. Pausing for a drink, Steve reassures us that the sipping whisky beside him is just a stage prop.
“Stage props sure taste good,” he confides with a cheeky grin. He tells us how he briefly heard Kitty Macfarlane singing at a festival, and had his management find out who she was so he could invite her on tour.
There’s a rather lovely country blues instrumental, evoking the mood of a boring wait at a bus station, and a tasty bit of electric guitar on ‘Hobo Low’. The playing is superb, although the anecdotes between songs are pretty entertaining too. I like the story that ‘Prospect Lane’ is based on a real place in Memphis called Prospect Street where the trains go slowly enough to easily get aboard. The name was changed to “Lane” simply to make it rhyme with “train”.
There’s a touching reflection upon how, in the early days after coming to England, The Brass Monkey in Hastings provided a venue where Steve was well treated and his music was well received. Sadly the boss there, Simon Wilkes, passed away recently. Someone calls out that Simon’s brother Pete is in the audience tonight, and Steve offers his warmest thanks.
“They put us up in a bed and breakfast. Treated us like, sort of…humans. I’m sorry your brother passed away but I’ll never forget playing there. Thank you so much for the opportunity.”
After ‘Well Well Well’, from the latest album, Steve explains a bit about the process of recording.
“Some of you won’t even remember what mono is…” He looks around the room briefly then reconsiders. “I don’t know. This is not the youngest crowd I’ve played for.” The observation draws a huge roar of laughter.
“The Three String Trance Wonder” is Steve’s name for the beaten up old guitar that made him famous, and it gets a good work out on ‘Cut My Wings’, and ‘Dark’. The banjo features on ‘Golden Spun’, which has more of a bluegrass feel. The set includes a couple of interesting cover versions in ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ and Tom Paxton’s ‘Ramblin’ Boy’.
There’s a bit of reflection on the early days, and “You guys have adopted me like an old dog,” draws a huge cheer. We conclude the set with more 3-string slide action on ‘Dog House Boogie’, with Steve encouraging the crowd to howl like dogs.
The rapturous ovation at the end leaves little doubt whether any encores will be played, and we’re treated to ‘Gentle On My Mind’, made famous by Glen Campbell.
“One more, then we go to bed,” quips Steve, and we end with a beautiful performance of Hank Williams’ ‘I’m So lonesome I Could Cry’, to huge and warm applause.
As a musician and as a raconteur, Seasick Steve has a special quality. Amazingly, the big break on Jools Holland is fourteen years ago now, but tonight has shown he retains a special place in the hearts of music fans and gig goers. It has been a splendid evening’s entertainment. Time for bed.
Seasick Steve setlist:
‘Started Out With Nothin’ (from ‘I Started Out With Nothin And I Still Got Most Of It Left’ 2008)
‘Carni Days’ (from ‘Love & Peace’ 2020)
‘Buddy Brown’ (from ‘Blues In Mono’ 2020)
‘Miss Maybelle’ (from ‘Blues In Mono’ 2020)
‘Waitin For The Greyhound In Charleston SC’ (from ‘Blues In Mono’ 2020)
‘Hobo Low’ (from ‘Doghouse Music’ 2006)
‘Fred’s Worried Blues’ (from ‘Blues In Mono’ 2020)
‘Prospect Lane’ (from ‘I Started Out With Nothin And I Still Got Most Of It Left’ 2008)
‘Whisky Headed Woman’ (from ‘Blues In Mono’ 2020)
‘Well Well Well’ (from ‘Blues In Mono’ 2020)
‘Cut My Wings’ (from ‘Dog House Music’ 2006)
‘Have Mercy On The Lonely’ (from ‘You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks’ 2011)
‘Dark’ (from ‘Man From Another Time’ 2009)
‘Golden Spun’ (from ‘Blues In Mono’ 2020)
‘Blue Room’
‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ (Big Joe Williams cover, from ‘Sonic Soul Surfer’ 2015)
‘Ramblin’ Boy’ (Tom Paxton cover)
‘Dog House Boogie’ (from ‘Dog House Music’ 2006)
(encore)
‘Gentle On My Mind’ (John Hartford/Glen Campbell cover, from ‘Keeping The Horse Between Me And The Ground’ 2016)
‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ (Hank Williams cover, from ‘Man From Another Time’ 2009)
