an instrumental guitar track by Steve Poltz

Sunday Boots

We Are The Survivors! A new little ditty that Steve made up for the new year.

SING ALONG

We are the survivors and we've made it this far 

We're blasting off to the highest star

We are the survivors and we're touching the sky

My only advice to you is-- don't die don't die don't die don't die!

 

Haaaaaapppppy new year to you and you and you 

I trust your skies are sunny and blue and blue and blue 

I hope the wind stays at your back and that you never ever ever fall flat 

(But if you do I'll pick you up) 



 Let yer head roll back and let it all wash over you 

 drink it all in the good, the sad, release the bad 

 there's an ancient flow of a river guided by the weather

 make a raft outta popsicle sticks and float on forever

 Float on and on and on and on like Huckleberry Finn

 and smile at all the serious crap as you're going in

 and know you're a survivor

of the highest magnitude 

on a cliff overlooking 

the galaxy 

and you've got the keys 

to the power of the ignition of Nutso Magutso! 

You're a butterfly let the days go by 

You are floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee  

You are Cassius Clay you are Muhammed Ali

You’re a technical knockout 

Yell at the stars yell at the moon 

And say yippee, yippee, Yippeeeeeeeeee! 



We are the survivors and we've made it this far 

We're blasting off to the highest star

We are the survivors and we're touching the sky

My only advice to you is-- don't die don't die don't die don't die!



We are the survivors and we've made it this far 

We're blasting off to the highest star

as soft as a snowflake touching the sky

My only advice to you is-- don't die don't die don't die don't die!

 

Haaaaaapppppy new year to you and you and you 

I trust your skies are sunny and blue and blue and blue 

I hope the wind stays at your back and that you never ever ever fall flat 

(But if you do I'll pick you up) 



We Are The Survivors

@ Cafe Carpe - Fort Atkinson, WI - 2/14/17

John Elliott - The True Love Who Loved Me

Someone Like Me

Hawk Ripping at Your Throat

Got It Made

Voice00182.3gp (February 99)

Tom Bedell chats with Steve Poltz about his upcoming shows at the Carleton, ASMR, Springsteen, and fun times in the 'Chi. Includes a live performance of 'Windows of Halifax'.

Steve Poltz

It might’ve even been last night, but Steve Poltz just played the greatest show of his life. Guess what? 

The next show will be even greater, making that show the greatest show of his life. 

Are you starting to notice a trend? 

He isn’t shy about it either. 

Even after most likely thousands of shows (but who’s counting?), he hits the stage with the same amount of energy and always makes sure to declare, “This is the greatest show of my life.” 

It’s why he’s quietly emerged as the kind of live phenomenon celebrated passionately by a diehard fanbase worldwide and renowned as a festival favorite everywhere from Bluesfest in Byron Bay and High Sierra Music Festival in California and Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado to Cayamo Cruise (where he actually got married). It’s why his music has crept into pop culture via collaborations with everyone from Jewel and Billy Strings to Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Nicki Bluhm, Oliver Wood, and even the late Mojo Nixon. It’s why after over a dozen albums, he’s still creatively firing on all cylinders and critically acclaimed by the likes of Rolling Stone, Associated Press, Billboard, and many more.

Nevertheless, the next gig will be the greatest show for him (and maybe for you too)…

“I started doing it years ago, because I feel grateful to still be alive,” he notes. ”Even today, I still do it, and I believe my own bullshit. I convinced myself that every show is the greatest show I’ve ever played. They’re all different, and it depends on my mood each day, but I know I’m there to entertain people. It always cracks me up when I stumble into some sort of weird thing that’s handed to me like a gift from the freaky deadly heavens above.”

Steve might as well be “a gift from the freaky deadly heavens above” himself. He was born in Nova Scotia—Halifax, to be exact. Somewhere along the way, he began his relationship with the guitar at six-years-old. “We’re joined at the hip and lip and it’s always near my grip,” he affirms. He grew up in Los Angeles and Palm Springs (where he “met Elvis and Liberace”) and settled in San Diego (where he cut his teeth “under the tutelage of The Beat Farmers”). 

He kicked off his musical journey in San Diego-bred underground favorites The Rugburns. However, the world got to know Steve when co-wrote two tracks from Jewel’s diamond-certified debut Pieces Of You, including the multi platinum Billboard Hot 100 #2 “You Were Meant For Me” (he’s also in the video). He delivered his own full-length debut One Left Shoe in 1998 and paved the way for an extensive solo catalog defined by what he calls “evocative lyrics mixed with positivity and traces of tragicomedy.” 

If you so choose, you can trace his evolution from “Everything About You” (which popped up in Notting Hill) to the staple “Can O’ Pop”— christened “a fizzy delight” by Rolling Stone. The latter graced his 2022 album, Stardust & Satellites. Co-produced and created with The Wood Brothers, it garnered widespread acclaim. HOLLER. hailed it as “a wonderfully energized, often joyful and wryly provocative release from the charismatic Steve Poltz,” while No Depression dubbed it “poignant and ultimately uplifting.” Glide Magazine applauded how, “He takes chances like few others and seems to be increasingly more unconventional as he embraces Americana.”

Simultaneously, a myriad of artists continue to seek him out as a collaborator in the studio. Whether it be “Leaders” with Billy Strings or “Million Miles” with Molly Tuttle, he’s got dozens of cuts with various friends under his belt. He contributed two tunes to Deer Tick’s Emotional Contracts with frontman John J. McCauley going on to profess to Brooklyn Vegan, “Steve Poltz may be the biggest, most direct inspiration for me on this record.”

Steve adds, “Usually when these folks and many others come over to my house in Nashville we end up with something I love. I try not to overthink it. There are no rules. It’s kind of like fishing. You don’t catch anything if you don’t throw your rod in the water. So I guess I just try to be available for inspiration, mixed with perspiration and exasperation.”

Speaking of perspiration, he regularly travels far and wide to audiences of all ages and all continents most every day. 

“I travel from town to town and fool people,” he grins. “I sing them songs and tell them stories and somehow they decide to pay money to obtain some merch and witness the spectacle. Then I return a year later and fool them again.”

In the end, Steve is probably gearing up for the greatest show of his life as you read this. 

Thankfully, that will never change.

He signs off, “I’m just a weirdo, a freak, a bon vivant, a rounder, a rabble rouser, a workaholic, a people pleaser, an idiot and a grateful kid who ran away and joined the circus.” 

Can we say it might just be The Greatest Show on Earth?!

We Are The Survivors

Steve Poltz

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