The life of a hobo set to music. With this release from Seasick Steve, we are once more taken to a time and place unknown to most of us. Poverty is an old friend of the blues and Seasick Steve plays the blues without pretension.
Intermingled with stories of his life, this album is an anachronism to the modern music business. It sounds like a captured performance rather than a production. Raw like the late R L Burnside, Seasick Steve crashes out of the speakers with songs like "Fallen off a Rock" and the hypnotic "Cut My Wings". Our favourite track was Shirly Lou" - a tale of longing for a lady of the night. Not something many of us will have experienced but understandable all the same. There is nothing complex about the singing, writing or playing and that simplicity gives the music its appeal and indeed a timeless quality.
You don't get more real than Seasick Steve. Despite his misfortunes in life, the devil has not got him. A tough one for the urbanites amongst us to relate to but it pays to persevere. He has been through some dark times but he has seen the light at the end of the tunnel. A lesson for us all, perhaps?