098 – Steve Guyger – Radio Blues

Hear an interview with harpist, vocalist and song-writer Steve Guyger as well as songs from his CD Radio Blues.
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In this weeks show you will meet Steve Guyger who grew up and lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Many call him a harp player’s harp player. Today most people consider Little Walter to be the best and most creative harp player there’s ever been in the blues field. Little Walter worked in Muddy Waters band with Jimmie Rogers. When Jimmie was putting together his band in the summer of 1980 he could have picked just about anyone to be in his band. Steve Guyger got the call to be in Jimmie Rogers band, and it lasted for about 15 years.

Steve talks in the show about growing up and getting in to music as well as working with the late great blues legend Jimmie Rogers. About a year ago I went to see Dennis Gruenling in concert (hear show on Dennis Gruenling). Dennis’ show was going real good, then he had Steve Guyger come up on stage to play. Wow, not only was he a great harp player he also had a strong, deep emotional voice that command your attention. Steve doesn’t waste time jumping around, rolling on the floor, or some other trick to get your attention. He doesn’t have to. His aim is to giving you the best blues music he can deliver, and Steve really does deliver.

Steve Guyger’s CD Radio Blues takes you back to the hay days of Chicago blues, although a few other styles are thrown in there too. Unlike some records that want to present you with a fifties or sixties blues sound by playing mostly covers ten of the fourteen songs on Radio Blues were written by Steve. One of the songs “Little Rita” was written in the mid-eighties. Steve joked that it was his contribution to New Orleans, cajun or Baton Rouge music. “School Is Over” was one of the songs he kept working over and over in his head to get it just right. He said Robb Stupka (drummer) came up with a great beat for the song and Johnny Moeller’s guitar playing was perfect on the song. One instrumental called “Afghan Rumble” was written in honor of his brother who was in Afghanistan before the war. This song is really more of a country song but it is one of my favorite songs, very beautiful. As you will hear in the show the songs are really good. This is a blues artist you need to get to know. Unfortunately Steve doesn’t go on tour much so you better pick up his record Radio Blues in order to hear him. If you are lucky enough to live in Philadelphia or are on a vacation there, one of the top attractions in my book is a Steve Guyger concert.