Steve Tilston

Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #133 (December 2007/January 2008).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Steve Tilston

The Power of the Song

by Craig Harris

Steve Tilston is the consummate performer. A master fingerstyle guitarist, Tilston is equally potent as a vocalist and songwriter. His tunes have been covered by an increasing list of musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Fairport Convention has recorded six of his songs. Artists such as the House Band, Dolores Keane, Bob Fox, and the late Peter Bellamy have found him a valuable source of material. A version of his song "I Really Wanted You" by the band Mascott was featured during the broadcast of the NFL Super Bowl in 2002. A recently released five-CD career retrospective, Reaching Back: The Life and Music of Steve Tilston, includes a disc of cover versions by Ralph McTell, Robin Williamson, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, Jez Lowe, Chris Smither, Brooks Williams, and Darryl Purpose, among others.

"Musically, there have been some surprises," Tilston said during a backstage interview at the Vanilla Bean Coffeehouse in Pomfret, Connecticut. "People have put their own stamp on it. I'm really very flattered."

Steve Tilston has done much more than just write tunes for other performers. His discography lists 13 solo albums, a pair of discs with now ex-wife Maggie Boyle, an album with John Renbourn's Ship of Fools, and an album as a member of British folk group WAZ! His debut effort, An Acoustic Confusion, was named "album of the month" by British music magazine Melody Maker upon its release in 1971. Boston's folk music radio station WUMB-FM named his 1992 duo album with Boyle, Of Moor and Mesa, and his 2003 solo album, Such & Such, albums of the year. "It's all about perseverance," Tilston explained. "My career has all the urgency of root erosion."

Inspired by the traditional music of his homeland, the sounds of the American West, and a globe-spanning range of influences, Tilston has created his own distinct sound. The fourth disc of his new collection pays tribute to his musical mentors with renditions of tunes recorded by early rockers Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly, as well as classics from the great American songbook. "I like playing block chords," he said, "playing the thumb against a triad with three fingers. It's a nice effect. You get some interesting rhythms. South American and Cuban guitar players use those kinds of rhythms. It's using the right hand to get a piano-istic effect. The arpeggios and the alternating bass are a North American way of playing. So, it's an amalgam of all of that."

[cover #133]