Steve's Background:

Steve first played professionally with legendary blues man Babe Stovall in New Orleans at the age of 19. As a young man, he won many banjo and fiddle contests throughout the South and West. While living in Santa Fe New Mexico he started The Last Mile Ramblers (featuring Junior Brown), a popular group in the 1970s. In the 1980s, he played as a sideman on fiddle and banjo with Jerry Jeff Walker, David Bromberg, and Mason Williams, often sharing the stage and playing on albums as featured guest with Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clarke,Tracy Nelson, Steve Young, Jimmie Martin and many other popular recording artists. He started performing as a solo artist in the 1990s, playing concerts around the country as well as Alaska, Canada, England, and Ireland. Now, Steve plays mostly as a solo act, a "picker-songwriter", whenever possible, prefers to tour the East Coast on his sailboat Rocinante.

Steve & Chesapeake Bay:

Steve arrived on Rocinante in Norfolk in June 1999. One year later, after exploring many towns around The Bay, he sailed into Annapolis, finding a port to call home. There he became a welcome addition to the vibrant music scene so vital to Annapolis’ history, appearing weekly for his first year at Sean Donlon’s, a local Irish pub, as well as playing many other venues throughout the Northern Chesapeake Bay area.

In Virginia Steve has become a frequent guest at the Donk's Theatre Li'l Ole Opry in Mathews and such pub venues as The Legend Brewery in Richmond,  The Mooring at Port Kinsale/Kinsale, VA, and the Sandpiper Reef Restaurant at Misty Cove/Haliford, VA.

Recordings:

Steve has recorded three CD's: Little Hinkley Yawl is a collection of mostly original songs about sailing. Fresh Fish, a recent release of more of Steve's salty songs, includes two future classics, "Blackbeard" and a song for the region's staunchly independent watermen called "My Deadrise My Flies and My Beer," featuring Junior Brown and his band. All Kinds/Live at Lancaster Playhouse is a recording of a live concert where Steve plays guitar, fiddle, banjo, and harmonica to accompany a wide range of both original and traditional songs, revealing for the first time Steve's New Orleans connection. Also featured on this CD is the last recording of some inspired duets with Steve's late wife Laurie.
 

Steve & His Audience:

"I enjoy people. I'm often out there on the water with sailors and fisherman, doctors and lawyers. I mingle with so many different kinds of people. I don' t choose to confine myself to the world of music,and I think that shows in my relationship with my audience. There can be a real give-and-take with an audience when I tap into what we humans all have in common, using that to mix music, song and humor in the right proportions."

"When you sing you bare yourself in front of everybody, especially with some songs and their particular emotional content and lyrics. Your listeners may be trying to get the same emotions out. I'm looking for the result where, 'He's speaking what I feel but couldn't express' ..

His Music & His Life:

"For years I lived on my sailboat and my love of sailing and the ocean is a strong creative force for me.   Rocinante is my little sanctuary. It's my personal vehicle and home in the wonderful natural environment of the sea. Offshore is the ultimate wilderness. There's a huge amount of serenity. Always a strong connected-to-the-earth feeling.  I find it to be the perfect surroundings for creative inspirational thinking such as songwriting.   Following my "musical nose" and living on the water world offers me great happiness. My performances show the fruit of my unique lifestyle.  I think people find it refreshing. Somebody once told me 'If you love your work, you 'll never work another day in your life!'   My work is my life."