It’s impossible to review any of the work of Steven Gene Wold – better known as Seasick Steve – without viewing it through the lens of his own enigma. How much, or otherwise, you buy into his well-publicised and analysed back story probably influences what and how much you take from his music, but at surface level at least, he continues to specialise in incredibly accessible blues rock with a big old slice of Americana on the side.

It was 2006’s Dog House Music that launched his career in earnest this side of the pond, and Love & Peace, his tenth studio album in just sixteen years, is very much cut from the same cloth. This is a laid back, stripped down affair, and unapologetically so.

Opening track Love & Peace is an early highlight, all hazy, smokey guitars and vocals. Clock Is Running is more of the same, with a twanging electric guitar that sees Wold play up to his character, as he sings: “I’m a walking man / Walking in around the dust / I’m a travelling man / Travelling around in my bus / Some people stay / Just in one place their whole life / Well I can’t understand / To me it just don’t seem right”.

Carni Days dials up the Americana element, while Church Of Me builds from a low key start to a cacophonous, bellowing finale that is Wold at his best and is a contender for the standout track on the album. Closing song Mercy offers some competition to that claim, with its gently plucked strings and rich, soulful vocals.

If Wold has been a little bit creative with his past, he isn’t the first musician to do so and he won’t be the last. At the end of the day, it all just adds to the Seasick Steve brand. Thankfully for Wold and his fans, he’s got the songs and the craftsmanship to back it up, whether its fantasy or otherwise.

Love & Peace track list:

1. Love & Peace

2. Regular Man

3. I Will Die For You

4. Clock Is Running

5. Carni Days

6. Church Of Me

7. Toes In The Mud

8. My Woman

9. Ain’t Nothing Like The Boogie

10. Travelling Man

11. Ready Or Not

12. Mercy

 blues      rock 

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.