Stevee – Acoustic Cut 

AGW’s founder, Steve Elliott (Stevee), has released an EP of acoustic material through AGW and Bandcamp.com – ACOUSTIC CUT is a seven-track compilation: three acoustic guitar instrumentals and four songs featuring strong acoustic guitar accompaniment. It’s a cool blend of folk, acoustic rock and fingerstyle.

The opener, Lucy’s Song Instrumental, is  an instrumental version of a lullaby Steve wrote for his daughter when she was born. Legend has it that Steve was compelled to pen the tune in order to get Lucy to sleep, apparently an almost impossible task! Then the writer had the tune for 25 years, always playing it, singing it on piano and guitar, but never actually recording it until 2016. The two acoustic guitars on this instrumental weave together beautifully with the lead lines supplying filigree fingerstyle, played by the great Russian fingerstyle guitarist Ilya Truhanov. They are supported by bass and a cajon to give it a percussive push. The arrangement also features highlights from a squeeze box providing a haunting refrain. The next track is the vocal version of Lucy’s Song,  a wonderful modern lullaby underpinned by great acoustic guitar work.

The third piece on Acoustic Cut, Goodbye Mr Lenin, is a kind of modern folk song, except the hero isn’t a person – it’s a city, Moscow! How everything changed so fast after Perestroika in the early 1990s. Before that Russia was a communist fortress, ruled with a rod of steel behind a curtain of iron. The next 20 years saw a sea-change as the place opened up to the fleshpots and the mercantile interests of the West. The song reflects on these changes, in verses that see an old comrade ‘turn in his grave’ when he sees today’s Moscow girl with all her female charms and warpaint on full beam, immodest to some and beguiling to others. A story of East meets West! Musically the two acoustic guitars, played by Stevee and Sasha Badajkov, combine to create a solid backing with a great piece of lead acoustic towards the end.

Next up is Lora’s Theme, (video above of recording this cut in the studio) a solo acoustic guitar outing that really captures a mood with its bold D minor arpeggiated opening. The Minor intro develops into a gorgeous A Major smoochy slow groove, the melody recapitulates via an interesting chord change and the tune ends with a beautiful descending cadence.

This is followed by a classic AGW country blues tune, Deep Blue, which features outstanding acoustic slide work from Rick Payne and vocals by Stevee. The next is an instrumental version of Scarborough Fair, featuring two acoustic guitars. Of course, the tune was made famous by Simon & Garfunkel, but it’s actually an ancient English fold song. The EP wraps up with Nickel in The Jar, a great piece of country and perhaps the best track on the EP. The song is dedicated to street musicians and has a neat message.

The EP offers up a selction of very varied tunes and yet they unify here into a satisfying whole. Stevee,  Acoustic Cut… Add it to your digital music collection today for… Well, you name your price.

Get Acoustic Cut as a free bonus

Buy any of our ebooks and we’ll add Acoustic Cut as a free bonus. AGW ebooks:

AGW Collection
St Louis Blues
Fingerstyle McCartney

Listen to Steve E’s Acoustic Cut here on Bandcamp.com