Steve Poltz - the best songwriter you've maybe never heard of... but you have.
Steve Poltz is very likely the best songwriter you think you've never heard of, but chances are you've heard something he's written, somewhere...
Born in Halifax, Steve moved at a tender age to Southern California and now resides in San Diego where he was voted Musician of the Decade in that fair city. You can hear all about his early life in a song on his new Traveling CD (out in Canada in late June on Universal/Fontana North), "A Brief History of My Life."
Check out the YouTube video of his performance at the Tiki Lounge in Halifax last September here
If the name isn't immediately familiar, you've probably heard his song "Remind Me" in the latest Jeep television ad campaign (the one with the Jeeps ploughing around in the giant sandbox) or perhaps you've heard Jewel's "You Were Meant For Me," which Steve co-wrote. That song is the longest-running single in the history of the Billboard singles chart. No mean feat, that one.
Steve played The Carleton on Monday, July 7th, Tuesday, July 8th and Wednesday, July 9th.
Steve is without doubt one of - if not the - best solo performers I have ever seen. You laugh, you cry. Lots of folks saw at least two of Steve's shows and each of the three nights was unique, a new experience. Steve's last night was descibed by him as EPIC. He played for almost three hours and kept a lot of folks riveted till one thirty - on a SCHOOL NIGHT. The guy was/is brilliant.
Check out his sensational website www.poltz.com
POLTZ AT THE CARLETON JULY 7,8,9 2008
Here's an excerpt from his Carleton shows, "Light In Your Eyes" from his new CD Traveling
Oh yeah, something else very cool happened. Joel Plaskett and his Dad Bill came to the show on Wednesday (Steve is a huge Joel fan by the way). During the second set Steve asked Joel to come up on stage to play "Light Of The Moon". Joel obliged and, as if we weren't getting our money's worth that night already, treated us to a mini set of three songs (an acoustic version of Thrush Hermit's "From The Back of the Film," a brand new travelin' song and the aforementioned "Light of the Moon" which brought Poltz to tears.
We're happy to report that Joel and Steve are pals now and may be thinking of banding together to take over the world. You saw it here first. Thanks Joel, and thanks Steve for a memorable evening. We're working on getting Steve back in the fall, by the way...
