I have a small handful of friends to whom I owe a sincere Thank You for helping me make Baker Prints’ first ever video, for our Windy City Kickstarter campaign. First up is the incomparable Jeff Massey, and right off the bat I want to let you know that he’s got a gig tonight at the Harlem Avenue Lounge in Berwyn, IL (3701 S Harlem Ave Berwyn, IL 6040 – 708-484-3610). If you’re free, go, you will not regret it.

Jeff is the frontman of my most favorite rock’n’roll outfit, The Steepwater Band. They are the first band I ever worked for, starting with a few gig posters in 2007 (before I was a printmaker) and moving on to album art, merchandise, and web design as well. They have become great friends and it is a unique honor to steal beers from them while they are preoccupied onstage.

Massey is a superlatively gifted guitarist. His slide playing runs the spectrum from unimpeachable to transcendent at every gig. In fact TSB are one of just two bands that has never failed to surprise me… and they’re the only I’ve seen 100 times. He does this with a unique signature (I once spotted him guesting on a Hollus record from a single note) and just the right amount of weirdness for my taste. It’s worth noting that the guy is also a total sweetheart—the definition of drama-free—and a rock. He’ll blow you away on his worst night (of course that’s true of the whole band).

I asked him to score our Kickstarter video. He agreed eagerly, then delivered, in a pinch, the perfect soundtrack. In fact he gave me three great versions of the intro music – one acoustic (the one we ended up using) and two electric, which made my life harder briefly. Each is great. One o’ them “good problems.”

I slapped together a little playlist of mostly deeper Steepwater cuts that highlight some of Jeff’s talents as a songwriter, player, and singer. The first is an old Delta blues standard by Robert Johnson, “Walkin’ Blues”. This will give you a good idea of Jeff’s solo sets—a good chunk will be topnotch renditions of Delta blues numbers.

The second song on the list, “Slow Train Drag”, is one of my favorite songs ever. It’s a haunting love song and a great lyrical achievement.

“Leo’s Grass” is something else entirely. It’s an early recording and one of very few TSB instrumentals, the only I’m aware of that was released officially with only guitar being played. It’s a beautiful little thing, not even two and a half minutes long, reminiscent of a certain Jimmy Paige era/style that a bigger Ledhed could probably identify. I’ve never heard this one performed live.

“Phantom Engineer” brings the whole Steepwater Band into the action. It’s essentially their unique take on the Bob Dylan classic “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”, which was a title Dylan used for an alternate, more upbeat version of the song. Listen to his guitar solo starting around 1:33 – this one shows Jeff’s virtuosity but never gets flashy for the sake of it (note also how naturally his vocal comes in while he’s finishing the long solo; he can actually do that live). I also love the slow misdirection of the intro before they stomp through one of my very favorite Dylan tunes. Jeff plays a good amount of Bob at his solo gigs, especially if you ask.

Lastly, “Come on Down” brings us to The Steepwater Band’s current album, Clava, and it’s a great example of both present-day TSB and where Jeff’s at.

Thanks Jeff!