27.03.07 | Arlington arts centre | Mary Hare School campus | Snelsmore Common | Newbury | £10 | box office: 01635 244246On his Later website there's an opinion poll nominating which of the eleven acts on Jools Holland's Hootenanny 06/07 was the best. With a huge 40 per cent of the vote and miles ahead of everyone else (including Paul Weller, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and The Kooks) is Seasick Steve, the original blues man who is appearing at Arlington Arts Centre on Tuesday 27 March. Following his jaw-dropping Hootenanny performance, Seasick's album Dog House Music shot straight into the top ten of the Indie Album Chart and this short UK tour follows. 'Invited' to leave home before his 14th birthday, and having spent many hours listening to stories from the hobos, tramps, and bums who came by, Steve reckoned he was ready for a life on the rails. So making up a 'bindle' (sleeping roll and some clothes, etc.) and not forgetting his guitar, he headed off into the sunset. Sound romantic? For the most part it certainly wasn't. Sleeping rough, going hungry, working for handouts, eating at the missions, riding the rails, playing on street corners for small change and many a free stay in the county jails of America…and that's the family friendly version of how Seasick got the blues. His music comes straight out of the stories told and heard in the 'jungle camps' and other scraps of songs put together. Recently his low down style has become popular again, mainly thanks to the Fat Possum sounds of R.L. Burnside or bands like the White Stripes. Charlie Gillett, legendary radio DJ and author of what has become the bible on black music in America, Sound Of The City, says Seasick Steve has brought him back to the blues and is the "first blues artist in 20 years to really move him". Mark Ellen, The Old Grey Whistle Test presenter, and past editor of Mojo and Q and now Word magazine, has featured Steve several times and has also been to every show Steve has done in London. Joe Cushley, past writer for Mojo and now writing for London's What's On magazine and London FM Resonance radio DJ has stated simply that "Seasick Steve is probably the greatest live bluesman on the planet" and regularly plays Seasick's music on his shows. | 
