Steve was once compared to an old comfortable sofa. It ain’t much to look at, but there's just something, well, comfortable about it.The comfortable thing about Steve is the song. It's all about the song. His strength is his writing. He’ll readily admit he doesn’t sing or play that well, but his singing and playing kind of works for what he’s doing. It's three chords and his truth.Like most creative types, he sees things a little differently than the 'normal' folks. Some of the things he sees...
Steve was once compared to an old comfortable sofa. It ain’t much to look at, but there's just something, well, comfortable about it.The comfortable thing about Steve is the song. It's all about the song. His strength is his writing. He’ll readily admit he doesn’t sing or play that well, but his singing and playing kind of works for what he’s doing. It's three chords and his truth.Like most creative types, he sees things a little differently than the 'normal' folks. Some of the things he sees, he can relate through song. He doesn’t really write them, they come to him, and he relates them.His sound can be a bit ‘country flavored’ but not heavy-handed, more along the lines of Americana. As a songwriter, he’s proud to have had the opportunity to perform twice in the late 90’s at Nashville’s famed Bluebird Café at their Sunday Writers’ Night. His songs, ‘Wet Dog (Someone To Care)’ and ‘I’ve Lost All Faith’ were named Tastes of the Day by eartaste.com in 2007. Both songs were on CD samplers released by that website. ‘Run Mary,’ from the CD ‘Long Grass and the Tall Trees’ was named a Taste of the Day by the website in April 2008. ‘I’ve Lost All Faith’ has also been included on Neil Young’s Living With War Today Song Page since August 2007 and reached as high as number 7 on the list. (http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html)“Tampa resident Steve Vaclavik is a troubadour in the tradition of Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt. His songs are full of the truth as seen by ordinary people. These people often tend to be life's underdogs, and Steve has the special gift to capture their perspectives on the world with genuine understanding. His words, full of humor and insight, are the essence of his music, but his Dylan-esque vocals and spare guitar playing provide a fitting framework that rings true and clear.” (From Pro Star Recording press release for their Pro Star Sound Stage Celebrate the Songwriter Series, December 2007.)“Following his gruff, antiwar Internet hit "I've Lost All Faith," which reached No. 11 out of 2,570 selections on Neil Young's "Living with War: Songs of the Times" website, Tampa folkie Steve Vaclavik releases Long Grass and the Tall Trees. The eight-song batch of originals, recorded at Pro Star Recording in St. Pete, features Vaclavik mostly alone with his acoustic guitar (there's understated percussion interspersed), strumming familiar chords and singing intriguing tales like the murder report "Run Mary." The only misstep is the track "Bob Dylan," an imagined meeting with the rock poet, which, at this point, is about as relevant as a "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" cover.”3 stars (Wade Tatangelo, Creative Loafing, Tampa, April 2008.)“(‘Run Mary’) A story about Billy and his sister Mary (“Billy sees things none of us see”). Steve’s sound is augmented by Luis Torres, a sensitive percussionist who enhances the nuances in this memorable story. I won’t give away the story, but will let you know the plot that Steve masterfully weaves into 3 minutes will take 2 hours to display on a movie screen. The rest of the album serves up a complete meal, with 8 movies to watch in your ears. ‘When The Water Comes Running Cold’ (“I’ve rebuilt before and I’ll rebuild again”) is a song about a flood that ends with inspired brilliance. ‘Smile With Me’ is a hilarious take on music fans and the movies they play in their heads while listening to music. “Listen up people, this song’s for you, you can listen to it anyway you want to. You can take your shoes off or leave them on. Maybe even learn the words to this song.” Shoutouts for ‘Speak of Me’ (“everything is gone except for this sad song”) and ‘Long Grass and the Tall Trees’ (“We all just do the best that we can do to get through”).” (From eartaste.com, April 2008.)
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