Just one man, one guitar and the blues
Steve Hill went solo in the truest sense of the word
After he parted ways with his former bandmates, Steve Hill figured he might play as a one-man blues-rock band for about a year.
Six years and more than 800 shows later, the native Montrealer is still performing solo – an effort that has garnered professional musician the greatest critical and commercial success of a career that has spanned two and a half decades.
“You never know what’s going to work,” he said last week ahead of a gig at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre this Saturday.
His solo efforts started as a lessexpensive side project, but Solo Recordings, Vo1. 1, released in 2012, quickly outsold Hill’s previous recordings and saw him nominated for a Juno Award for best blues album in 2013.
“It just came out at the right moment. The timing was perfect,” Hill said.
He would win the same award two years later with Solo Recordings, Vol. 2 before releasing Solo Recordings, Vol. 3 in 2016.
He is now touring in support of Steve Hill: The One-Man Blues Rock Band – a live album released on May 11, recording on the last night of a tour. It quickly shot to number one on the blues charts on iTunes Canada.
With his band, he released six albums between 1997 and 2011. His 1999 sophomore release Call It What You Will also earned him a nomination for best blues album.
Hill has also won multiple Maple Blues awards for Electric Act of the Year, Guitarist of the Year, Recording/Producer of the Year and Entertainer of the Year.
The musical journey never ends for a man who began playing clubs at age 15, inspired as much by the bluesinspired rockers like the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix as Mississippi Delta bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Robert Johnson.
Hill, who also enjoys old country and folk, admits he listens to a lot of music. “There are two types of music, as far as I’m concerned. Good and bad.”
He describes his show as highenergy.
He sings and plays guitar along with two kick drums, a hi-hat cymbal with a drum stick attached to the machine head of his guitar and occasionally, a harmonica.
Hill stresses that he is not a purist. He enjoys breaking up the set list with lighter, acoustic numbers, for example.
“It gives me a chance to pay tribute to those delta blues masters,” he said.
He’s been going it alone for some time, but the musician was looking forward to jamming with his former bandmates last week for the first time in many years.
Hill was also looking forward to the Ontario tour. Life on the road isn’t easy, but he said he endures the “hours of waiting” to be on stage, where nothing comes close to the feeling of playing to a live audience.
“It’s worth it. It’s the best feeling,” he said.
NOTES: Reserved seating tickets for Steve Hill – The One-Man Blues Rock Band are $45 (tax and facility fees included; handling charges may apply), are available from the Market Hall box office or by calling 705-7751503 ... Showtime is 7:30 p.m. … For more information, visit www.stevehillmusic.com.