Seasick Steve: Hubcap Music

Sixth album, showcasing a v. slick Steve.

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The title may have been inspired by the makeshift components used to construct one of Steve’s first guitars (two hubcaps and a garden hoe), but this is a comparatively sophisticated set of recordings, frequently at odds with the rough and ready DIY ethic of his previous albums.

It’s about as slick as you could imagine him being, with a pristine sheen to the redneck boogie of Down On The Farm and the elegant prairie harmonies of Purple Shadows, although arguably at the diminishing of the down home charm of his earliest releases.

Jack White lends a kick-ass solo to the voodoo howl of The Way I Do and John Paul Jones weighs in elsewhere (bass, mandolin, ukulele), but some fans may miss the hobo simplicity of yore.

Terry Staunton was a senior editor at NME for ten years before joined the founding editorial team of Uncut. Now freelance, specialising in music, film and television, his work has appeared in Classic Rock, The Times, Vox, Jack, Record Collector, Creem, The Village Voice, Hot Press, Sour Mash, Get Rhythm, Uncut DVD, When Saturday Comes, DVD World, Radio Times and on the website Music365.