Seasick Steve - I Started Out With Nothin And I Still Got Most Of It Left

I Started Out With Nothin And I Still Got Most Of It Left is the third album by American blues musician Seasick Steve, originally released in September 2008 by Warner Bros. Records.

Steven Gene Wold (born 1940/1941), commonly known as Seasick Steve, plays mostly personalized guitars, and sings, usually about his early life doing casual work.

When asked about his nickname, Wold has said: "because it's just true: I always get seasick". When he was ill on a ferry from Norway to Copenhagen, later in his life, a friend began playfully using the name and, despite Wold not rising to it for a while, it stuck.

In the 1960s, he started touring and performing with fellow blues musicians, and had friends in the music scene including Joni Mitchell. Since then, he has worked, on and off, as a session musician and studio engineer. Wold made his first UK television appearance on Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny BBC TV show on New Year's Eve 2006. He performed a live rendition of "Dog House Boogie" on the "Three String Trance Wonder" and the "Mississippi Drum Machine". After that show his popularity exploded in Britain, and he commented "I can't believe it, all of the sudden I'm like the cat's meow!"

While some fans (and critics) had worried that major-label production would kill the bare-bones aesthetic that really made Steve's music shine, that proved a non-issue for I Started Out With Nothin And I Still Got Most Of It Left. The production doesn't get in the way of the music and gets decidedly less smooth as the album moves along, emphasizing Steve's aesthetic a bit more. His vocals remain smooth, but the compositions are a little more folksy, a little more Southern.

Banging out the blues on his customised guitars is what Steve does best and you'd be hard pushed to find another bona fide ex-train rider who does it better. Steve has managed to translate his fiery live shows from the stage to the studio with his languid, treacly voice introducing most songs and even delving into a monologue on the bare explanation of why he can never stay still: “My Youth”. And on the title track Steve’s intro to a track about nothing never sounded so good.

Steve has called on Jools Hollands' favourite soul singing diva, Ruby Turner, to join him on the gospel infused “Happy Man” where he pleads for a woman’s touch, while KT Tunstall backs up the legend on rhythm guitar. Steve is also keen to prove he's no chancer with the ladies on “Fly By Night” and the collaborations keep coming with Nick Cave getting writing credits on the low key and perfect “Just Like A King”, featuring Grinderman.

Whether singing homegrown tales of women, riding trains (“Prospect Lane”), faithful dogs (“One True”), drinking wine (“Thunderbird”), or a 'how to' guide for getting rid of bugs on a guitar he says he should have thrown out (“Chiggers”), Steve's sincerity to the blues tradition he was taught by K.C. Douglas makes this a compelling down and dirty listen whose momentum takes you straight back on the trains with him - even though he probably has a bit more than nothing by now.

Check out the tracks: “My Youth”; “Happy Man”; “Prospect Lane” and “Just Like A King”.

This LP reissue on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with digital download and is pressed in the USA.