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OTHER PARTNERS/PROJECTS
Just occasionaly Steve Westaway gets the chance to enjoy playing a few concerts with his friend of some 30 years or so Steve Payne from his home town of Bristol UK.
Roots, country and blues guitarist, Steve Payne, variously described as “one of the UK’s finest guitarists” and "one of rock’s fallen angels”, first stepped onto the stage in 1972, appearing in various college folk clubs. His first paid performance – for the princely sum of £10 – was in the inauspicious surroundings of the Printers Devil pub in Slough in 1974.
But his emerging talents were soon in demand and he
began to play guitar with Joanna Carling, who had signed to Dick James. He
played on Fancy That, produced by Hugh Murphy (of Gerry Rafferty fame) and went
on to play with Gerry Donaghue, Gary Herd, Dave Mattocks (Fairport Convention)
and Gary Taylor (Peter Frampton) in the early 1970’s. By 1976, he was touring
Europe with Loudon Wainright III, and also found time to team up with comedian
Jasper Carrott on his memorable Funky Moped tour. He featured with various
other artists of the time, recording with Rosie Hardman on the Eagle Over Blue
Mountain album in 1978, which was produced by Steeleye Span’s Nigel
Pegrum.
As punk swept the nation, Payne briefly followed suit,
his new band Brent Ford and the Nylons swerving from R’n’B to punk and back
again. The early eighties saw the birth of The Paynekillers, a band which
evolved into the longstanding regional rock & blues favourite, The Parole
Brothers.
Their debut album, “When’s you’re album coming out?” found favourable reviews. During this time Payne continued to work with other artists, most notably Dr John and blues legend BB King.
In 1986, he moved to L.A and played on the West Coast
scene for three years, before returning to the U.K. to form The Candy Run. The
band’s debut album of the same name took three years to complete, punctuated by
Payne’s return visits to L.A..
Back in the UK in 1989, he teamed up with well-known
musician Steve Tilston and together they played Glastonbury Festival and
recorded the Album “In For A Penny, In For A Pound”. Candy Run toured for a
year or so, before Steve began working with harmonica afficionado Keith
Warmington.
They played Glastonbury Festival in 1993 and a new
band – Payne and Friends – took shape soon afterwards, touring Europe through
1994. This year also saw Steve begin to move more heavily into slide guitar and
jazz styles, teaming up with fellow (unrelated!) guitarist Rick Payne. The two
played together regularly over the next couple of years, a period that also saw
Steve’s first collaborations with blues singer/songwriter Maggie Thomas.
In 1996 Payne teamed up
with Chris Scott and formed a new band, playing a series of dates in Toronto
and neighbouring towns. The band evolved into Crawdaddy, and toured Europe for
the next couple of years.
They recorded one acoustic Album at the Hope Centre in Bristol – aptly named “Hope”, and carried out a successful, televised tour of America’s East Coast in 1998. During this period Payne returned to Toronto where he had built a following, appearing with Paul Brady in 1997.
Steve began to focus more on his Roots’ leanings in the late nineties, leaving the electric side of his music alone, and releasing a succession of acoustic albums. “Six” was released in 2000, followed by “The Kiss” a year later, and “Outlines” in October 2002.
His new album NO COMMERCIAL VALUE is now available via DIGITDOC RECORDS http://www.digitdocrecords.com/
Steve's homepage is http://www.steve-payne.net/
