Sunday January 31, 2021

Steve James​ is an original roots music adept whose guitar, mandolin, singing and writing have made him familiar around the world to those whose inner soundtrack resonates to real folk and blues. Steve’s musical journey of over half a century started in New York where childhood playthings included Leadbelly 78s and his Dad’s dusty guitar. That trip led from the lofts of the Lower East Side to the hills of Tennessee, Memphis and the deeper South where the young autodidact got pointed in the right direction by elder wizards like Sam McGee and Furry Lewis who told him: “Get your own song!” Settling in Texas, Steve employed what he’d learned during his journeywork on stage and in the studio to become known as “an underground legend” at home and to embark on world travels that continue to the present. Suzy Thompson is one of the rare musicians today who has mastered multiple styles of Southern fiddling, from pre war acoustic blues to Cajun and Creole to old-time fiddle, especially the kind that has a ragtime or blues feel. A powerful blues singer in the styles of Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith, and a highly respected blues fingerpicking guitarist, Suzy is unique in her ability to combine fiddle, vocals and guitar in the old-time, Cajun, blues and ragtime idioms.