If there ever was a cd with an ironic title, it’s Steve Strongman’s Let Me Prove It To You. This accomplished blues musician doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. And yet once again, he indeed does.
Steve Strongman is the pride and joy of Hamilton, Ontario. He leads the Hammer charge of popular blues artists. His Juno award winning cd A Natural Fact featured his acoustic work, but this time around, he pulls out his Gibson, plugs it in, and overpowers you with hard-driving electric blues.
LET ME PROVE IT TO YOU is as polished as they come. Steve’s vocals and superb guitar work provide the backdrop for a swinging cd that bursts off the blocks. Dave King and Adam Warner on drums, Bassists Alec Fraser, Mark McIntyre. Marc Rogers, Jesse O’Brien on keyboards and vocalists Emma-Lee and Catherine Wallace round out Steve’s circle of friends.
The cd kicks off with a typical blues hurtin’ tune of a cheating woman in There’s Something Goin’ On. Only Steve could write such amusing lyrics
Is someone cutting my grass
Somebody mowing my lawn
I shouldn’t have to ask
But I can tell there’s something’s wrong.
The second tune , What I Believe cranks it up to another level
“What you See is what you get… And I came to play” and boy did he ever!
The cd features several upbeat fun songs – Get Used to It and the honkey tonkin Can You Feel It? . They say it’s impossible to burn a hole in a digital song but somehow I think I did by selecting ‘repeat forever’ on my IPhone.
The blues bluster comes on strong with Lookin’ for Trouble with Quebec Blues harmonica master Guy Bélanger. It Ain’t the First Time is a warning that it isn’t the first time he’s been in love before but he’s in love again.
There’s all kinds of humour combined with retrospective soul searching about growing older with We’re Going Out Tonight where he can’t keep up with his bachelor party-animal friend. And there’s Older
“the past is in the past, ain’t no way we’re getting it back,
man them glory days were gold,
I might be getting older but I ain’t getting old”.
With lyrics like this you can’t help but wear a smile as you listen.
The entire cd deserves attention. It’s a winner for sure. Steve won a Juno for his last release. I think history just might repeat itself.
Steve dropped in on Blues Blast to talk with me about his newest cd on April 27, 2014.
The Blues Are Alive! 