Yesterday i was lucky enough to catch my first Dave Alvin concert at Islington Assembly Hall. It has to go down as one of the best performances I’ve seen – not only is he one of the best songwriters I’ve heard, but I discovered he is also an incredibly dynamic bandleader and master of American roots guitar. Plus his band are brilliant – go and watch if you get the chance.
As he introduced their final song, he dedicated it to two of his contemporaries who had recently passed on: Merle Haggard and, to my surprise, Steve Young.
The latter’s work I first discovered through the Heartworn Highways movie as a teenager and it has been a huge influence on my own writing ever since. His style always struck me as a cross between Odetta and Hank Williams – which if you haven’t already heard him sing, I hope now does.
Anyway, I thought I would like to pay tribute to some of the music I love through this blog and thought Steve Young would be a very fitting first artist to start with. Be sure to sit back and shut your eyes as you listen to the voice of one of the greats: