SPILL FEATURE: THAT WAS A WELCOME RESPITE TO THIS WORLD, AND I FEEL A LITTLE BETTER – A CONVERSATION WITH STEVE POLTZ

THAT WAS A WELCOME RESPITE TO THIS WORLD, AND I FEEL A LITTLE BETTER

A CONVERSATION WITH STEVE POLTZ

Steve Poltz is back with his first album in over four years. That is not to say he has not been busy, because during those four years he co-wrote with many artists, toured, and wrote his own music. But it is great to have JoyRide to enjoy for those who are not able to see him live. But do note, he is touring extensively with the release of this new album, so there is a chance to catch him live.

“I don’t know where the years go. It is really hard to get me into the studio because I tour so much. I am a live act. I’ve been meaning to do it and I made Stardust + Satellites [his last studio album] with The Wood Brothers during the pandemic. Once we were out of the pandemic everyone started touring again like crazy, including me. And then my schedule booked out. I should have gone into the studio a year ago, but I was recording songs with my friend Andy Frasco, and writing with a bunch of people in Nashville,” Poltz told me during our recent conversation.

Touring is something that Poltz enjoys very much. “I’m kind of like the Grateful Dead. I like to do long shows and love the live act, the whole scene.” And in terms of live shows, each show he does is completely different. “There’s no plan for what I do. I have never written a setlist in my life. Even if I am doing a radio show for NPR, they will ask what songs I plan to do and I always say ‘I don’t know until I get out there. I like it to always be fresh every night, so the shows are always different.’

Although Poltz enjoys touring, writing songs is something he is constantly doing. Working with others seemed to spur Poltz on to making his own music and album. “My buddy Andy kept having me come in and write songs with him for his record and one day I had this epiphany. ‘Why am I doing this and not putting out my own?’ So, I immediately called Dex Green. I had contributed a song for a Joel Plaskett tribute record a few months ago. I recorded a song called “AbsentmindedMelody” and I did it at Dex’s studio, Three Sirens. And I just loved working with him. I called him up, and he said, ‘come over tomorrow.’ So I did, and that began the record.

JOYRIDE ALBUM REVIEW

Having released the new album, JoyRide, Poltz is eager to get back in the studio to record new material. “Now that I made this record, I have the fever to record more. I also want to be able to put out some live records and consistently other records, if that makes sense.

The opening song on the album, “If It Bleeds It Leads” is an interesting song and one that comes from a real-life situation. “I was with people, in a living room, and a politician came on TV, who is very famous and his last name starts with ‘T’ and ends with ‘P’, and when he came on, he was saying some usual crazy ramblings. Someone I was with, literally started screaming and said they wanted to get a gun and blow the television up,” Poltz laughs. “I started laughing so hard, and I had my guitar and I could roast this person, extrapolate what they said and exaggerate. ‘I can never watch the news with you because you yell back — you scream like they can hear you on the television set…you’re even scaring all the pets.’ And that line, live, without fail kills, in front of any audience. Because everyone can relate to that. Today we have such visceral reactions to political leaders.”

Poltz has an ability to take a very serious subject, like political discussion, and find humour in it. Throughout the album JoyRide, there are other examples of his humour, that not everyone finds funny. “The good thing about how my brain works is that I can find humour in almost anything. I was always the kid with the gallows sense of humour.”

With “Son Of God”, a song about Jesus being a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman may cause a reaction in some people.”

“I was born in Halifax, and when my family emigrated to California, I was just a little kid. My uncle moved in with us. He was from Cape Breton where my mom was from. My dad was born in Winnipeg but grew up in Windsor, ON. He was in the RCAF. He moved to Halifax, and that is where I was born. One day we were snowed in and my dad said, ‘that’s it, I am sick of this’. My mother’s brother was a gay man, and he was living in Cape Breton, which was not a great place to be if you were a gay man in the 1960s. He moved to where we were, which was Los Angeles, where he could, in the words of Joni Mitchell, be a ‘free man in Paris’.”

This background information is very important for the song, “Son Of God.” “This salesman came to the door, I never forgot it. He was selling Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia. He was a door-to-door salesman. Handsome guy, probably about six one, silver hair and he came in and I was six years old. And then he sits down at the table and pulls out the encyclopedias. My uncle came in, he was in the backyard, and my mom came home, and she was smoking a cigarette, I will never forget it. My mom said ‘I’ll get these encyclopedias if you read every one of them, from A to Z. And I read them. Cover to cover. They were like the iPhone, as far as I was concerned. Had the answers to everything. So, I was wondering what happened to all the encyclopedias. But then, the way my head works is I started having this conversation with Jesus. It may have been a dream, and I remember I woke up and I was laughing because I was having this conversation with Jesus, and Jesus was trying to get rid of the encyclopedias because you have to pay for storage in heaven and nobody knows that. And Bezos is not going to share any profits with Jesus.”

Although the song is well written and quite poignant (and to be truthful, funny), the song has received some unpleasant feedback for Poltz. “When I was opening for the John Prine Band in Franklin, TN. The Prine Band are my friends from Nashville, and they wanted me to sing the John Prine songs in these really great gigs at Performing Arts centres. And Performing Arts centres are a really different gig because they are sometimes subscription based and it is like a whole other world. It is not like you are in a bar, like the Horseshoe. You are in a very upscale kind of place, and the centre has sponsors. The Prine Band asked me to do 30 minutes before, and I did “Son Of God,” and man, this woman was screaming at me. Screaming! She saw me walking and she started screaming at me and how upset she was about that song and how disrespectful it was, and I said ‘that’s so cool. Thank you so much for saying that, it is the best compliment.’ This infuriated her and she said, ‘it was not a compliment.’ And I said ‘no, it is to me. It is how art should be. I would rather have that than if you just said meh. It was cool she felt that way’. And she got really mad and walked away.”

Poltz does not ever intend to insult or anger his audience. And he does have a specific hope for his new album, JoyRide. “I am hoping they go ‘Wow! That was a cool and great listen. Let’s listen to it again. It was only 32 minutes of my time.’ I try to get records to 32 minutes and only 10 songs, because of this day and age we are in. I used to double albums but now…I hope they say ‘that was a welcome respite to this world, and I feel a little better.”

And with that, our conversation is over, with Poltz telling me how much he loves Toronto, especially Ossington, and The Dakota and the Horseshoe. We never got around to talking about his songs with Jewel, perhaps that will be for our next conversation. But until then, JoyRide is going to be spinning on my turntable, and if I can get a ticket, I will be seeing him at The Horseshoe in Toronto at the end of April.

Tour Dates

JANUARY
30 – Eugene, OR – Unity of the Valley
31 – Sisters, OR – The Belfry

FEBRUARY
1 – Ashland, OR – Carpenter Hall
4 – Trinidad, CA – Trinidad City Hall
5 – Chico, CA – Chico Women’s Club
6 – Mill Valley, CA – Sweetwater Music Hall
7 – Felton, CA – Felton Music Hall
11 – Morro Bay, CA – The Siren
12 – Santa Barbara, CA – SOhO Restaurant & Music Club
13 – Thousand Oaks, CA – Scherr Forum Theatre
14 – Santa Monica, CA – McCabe’s Guitar Shop
21 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up *
22 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up **
26 – Denmark, West Australia – The Dam
27-28 – Nannup, West Australia – Nannup Music Festival †

MARCH
1 – Perth, West Australia – Lyric Underground
5 – Adelaide, SA – Trinity Sessions
6 – Goolwa, SA – Murray Delta Juke Joint
7-9 – Port Fairy, VIC – Port Fairy Folk Festival †
11 – Ararat, VIC – Ararat Town Hall
12 – Melbourne, VIC – Brunswick Ballroom
13 – Melbourne, VIC – Memo Music Hall
14-15 – Katoomba, NSW – Blue Mountains Music Festival †
18-19 – Sydney, NSW – Camelot Lounge
20 – Avoca Beach, NSW – Avoca Beach Theatre
21 – Buttai Valley, NSW – Full Throttle Ranch
22 – Old Bar, NSW – Flow Bar
25-27 – Hawkes Bay, NZ – Small Hall Sessions
28 – Wellington, NZ – Meow
29 – Auckland, NZ – The Tuning Fork

APRIL
2 – Cairns, QLD – Tanks Art Centre
3-4 – Tyagarah, NSW – Byron Bay Bluesfest †
5-6 – Canberra, ACT – National Folk Festival †
15 – Berwick, NS – The Union Street
17 – Halifax, NS – The Carleton
18 – Halifax, NS – The Carleton (Early Show)
18 – Halifax, NS – The Carleton (Late Show)
19 – Halifax, NS – The Carleton (Early Show)
19 – Halifax, NS – The Carleton (Late Show)
20 – Iona, NS – The Frolic & Folk Pub & Grill
21 – Pictou, NS – deCoste Performing Arts Centre
22 – Fredericton, NB – Charlotte Street Arts Centre
24 – Guelph, ON – Royal City Mission
25 – Clarksburg, ON – Marsh Street Community Centre
26 – London, ON – Aeolian Hall Performing Arts Centre
29 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
30 – Kingston, ON – The Spire

MAY
1 – Ottawa, ON – Red Bird
2 – Ottawa, ON – Red Bird
3 – Chelsea, QC – Motel Chelsea
14-17 – Joshua Tree, CA – Joshua Tree Music Festival †
29-31 – Ogden, UT – Ogden Music Festival †

JUNE
18-21 – Stanley, ID – Sawtooth Valley Gathering †

JULY
21-24 – Big Indian, NY – Sad Songs Summer Camp ‡

* 17th Annual 50th Birthday Bash w/ The Rugburns
** Steve Poltz & Friends – 17th Annual 50th Birthday Bash (seated show)
† Festival Performance
‡ with Milk Carton Kids

Artist Links

Photo Credits: Jay Blakesberg