Steve Hill is a phenomenon. What do you think a solo artist should sound like? Maybe a weather-beaten folkie? A social commentator like Billy Bragg? Perhaps one of those Joseph Arthurs types, all effects, loops, and wizardry?
I’ll see all that and raise you the rawest blues there is. A force of nature. And an absolutely glorious songwriter.
I don’t know how he does it. What’s more, I couldn’t care less. I’m sticking to my belief that he found Robert Johnson’s solo at a car boot sale organised by Beelzebub himself and imbibed it whole.
I mean, how else, in all good conscience, do you explain the primal sounds on the title track? “This rockin’ and rollin’ got me hanging on a string,” he sings. It’s a guitar string. I’m certain of it.