Dog House Music - Music (Seasick Steve)

Seasick Steve is Steve Wold, a moustachioed American bluesman who, on Dog House Music, plays American roots music with the tight-belt economy and authentic spirit of the genre's originators (there's a lineage here, too - Steve was taught his first chords by Delta bluesman KC Douglas). A long-term street-dweller, Wold's instrumentation is simplistic in the extreme: a three-stringed trance guitar, a slide instrument known as 'the one-stringed diddy-bo', and the Mississippi Drum Machine, a wooden box that provides the most rudimentary percussion. In the true blues spirit, Seasick Steve sings his life. For an autobiography of sorts, head for 'Dog House Boogie', a phlegmatic timeline that commences at the age of four with his parent's divorce, and rambles off through several decades of vagrant living and downhome manners. 'Hobo Low' is perhaps the sharpest, best distilled take on Steve's drifter philosophy, his voice raising to quivering, booming peaks over sparse stabs of blues guitar. 'Save Me', meanwhile, sees the diddy-bo make an appearance - a taut, trembling twang that resembles an amplified rubber band. If this review makes Dog House Music sound bare-bones, well, it is - but everyone from blues aficionados to White Stripes fans should find something to love here. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews of Dog House Music

K-Pax
Bonnie Scotland
7th August 2008

Raw, honest, foot-tapping fun
Like others, I saw the man on Jools Holland. I suppose the romantic in me loved the idea that this guy had experienced the lowest of the lows but had come through it all and was here playing his 3-string geetar live on the JH show. However, I liked what I heard and his enthusiasm for the blues was infectious. Okay, it's not as polished as the great blues musicians and he's not going to outdo Robert Cray for technical ability but just listen to the stories he tells and you'll be tapping your foot along. We all love to see people do well that have faced grim adversity and Seasick Steve provides a soulful, bizarre and honest approach to his version of the blues. So, stop being so cynical and give it a blast.

A Customer
uk
25th July 2008

Modern Music
Contemporary music troubles me, Ive been listening to blues for years and suddenly someone "new" plays the same stuff thats been around for decades and its "cool."

If you want to listen to this kind of music, listen to delta blues: son house, robert johnson. This is pretty unoriginal...thats not to say he's not talented, but the founders of this music get no recognition but this guy does? it makes no sense.

paultanner2

23rd May 2008

Thank Heavens for Jules
I am another who saw the performance on Jools' show and yet another who was amazed. I am new to the Blues so forgive me if I can't liken it to anything else. As I listened to this I could imagine myself sat on some wooden porch on the edge of a swamp listening to some real homestrung blues. Very raw but very real and all with three strings. Amazing stuff. If you enjoy the blues this is highly recommended - all from such an unimposing figure - he really looks like he just turns up with his geetar, beat box and nothing else.

Denis Delworth
Scotland
13th February 2008

Stunned!
I first heard a bit of him on the Jools Holland show and decided to give the album a go. Well, what can I say? Absolutely fantastic! Never a big fan of old time blues but this is something different.

sgeorge9q
UK
13th February 2008

Suprised
I Picked this album up as a "wonder if this is any good".

Worth a Laugh, Bit Tom Petty Esk, Love it!