Steve Turner

Steve Turner is back!

And badder than ever!

Bad ideas all around.

He's got a band-The Bad Ideas.

He's got a new record-Steve Turner And His Bad Ideas.

He is no longer the simple folk singer/balladeer of yore.

In fact he's turned his back on the revolution he started: Skate-Folk.

Let all the Johnny come-latelys have it. It was a bad idea.

Funny stuff.

OK. Enough of that.

His new record is called Steve Turner And His Bad Ideas. And he thinks this record's a lot better than the last one. It was hard won.

It was a shitty year after recording Searching For Melody. A month after finishing, Mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She died six weeks later. A few weeks after that Dad was diagnosed with liver cancer. Six months later he was dead too. "Searching For Melody" had just come out by that time, and Steve hit the road. Played a lot of shows to very few people. Learned the art of humility. Drank a lot. Wrote some new songs, figured out how to play them. Went to Spain a couple times where he was reminded that life can be good. Wrote some more songs. Grew his hair way too long. Worried what was left of his family.

If Mickey Newbury was still alive, he could write a great song about it all. Steve's still working on it. He wrote some more songs and made plans to record them all. Lots of friends both old and new pitched in to help. Johnny Sangster is all over it with his trademark guitar as well as keyboards and bass, his brother Jim was drafted in on bass, dobro and mandolin, Dan Peters on drums, Kevin Warner on drums, Bruce Brand on drums, Holly Golightly adds her vocals, Anne Marie Rudjavich on the violin, viola and backing vocals, Stone Gossard on cymbal and hi-hat of course, and a few more lent their hand. Johnny Sangster produced a bunch, Tucker Martine produced a bunch and Liam Watson in London produced a bunch. It was not cheap. But it was worth every penny.

-more-

It's not a simple record. Don't expect it to maintain a mood or blend into the background. It starts off with a little thing called "The Grand Introduction", and it is. A wall of guitar feedback, falsetto vocals, crashing cymbals, violin, etc. It's all over in a minute. Then "Zero On The Scale" finds our hero being chased by a garage-rock band on his way to...where. Dig the Dory Previn nod there. "A Beautiful Winter" is Steve and Holly discussing what went wrong when two people don't go at all. "I-5 Corridor" is Steve's love/hate relationship with the minivan. It's not a joke.

"I Want You In My Arms" is a remake from the first record. Steve felt like it was a failure from his end and a chance meeting with Bo Diddley put it all in perspective. A Bit of The British Sound this time around. "Dimebag Blues" should have been sung by Steve's hero Waylon Jennings, but he died. Steve tried his best to carry on. Fantastic dobro there by Jim, btw. "Painting A Picture" is as close to boogie as this record gets. Ironically, it's a reflective number.

"Chalky's On A Bummer" speaks for itself. "I Love The Sound Of My Guitar When It SIngs" rocks a bit, doesn't it? The full sound of The Bad Ideas, with a nod to Randy Holden. "Greenback Dollar" was a hit for the Kingston Trio. Steve does not expect lightning to strike twice, just paying tribute to another hero-Hoyt Axton. Steve's band The Monkeywrench has also paid with a version of Hoyt's "The Pusher". Hoyt died recently. "Things To Give Away" is about dead things. "Someday Baby" is enough of a Muddy Waters song to give the man credit. Holly makes it what it is. And finally, "Move Ahead" is the last song.

30 minutes, 13 songs.

In the can.

Steve's old friend and bandmate (Love And Respect) Whiting Tennis contributed the artwork, and Tammy Watson put it all together again. Barbara Mitchell has to figure out ways to excite the unexcitable again.

And Steve's hard at work selling crap on Ebay, dreaming about a secluded cabin or a Spanish hovel and thinking about his next record. Some sort of Punk Rock concept album using turn of the century hymns.

He still needs to be reminded that life can be good.