Steve Sullivan is an American medium, drawing the spirit of all forms of American music, old and new into finely crafted albums. Sullivan plays a staggering list of instruments, including acoustic and electric guitar, piano, bass, drums, hand percussion, organ, mandolin, trumpet, Venezuelan cuatro, harmonica, synthesizer and more. He’s also a gifted producer and engineer, recording all of his material alone in his project studio.
Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the early 80’s, Sullivan grew up in a small railroad town on the dried out banks of the Rio Grande. He started playing guitar and writing songs at age 13, and since then has written over 2000 songs. “I don’t know where they come from,” says 25 year old Sullivan, “the ones I really try to write come out poorly, the ones I really think about and craft… it’s the ones that I hear in my head already finished, the ones that I scribble down in 4 or 5 minutes that are worthwhile."
In 2004, Sullivan began collaborating with wife Michelle Renee and her Celtic and middle-eastern fiddle have made quite an impression on his live shows. His latest work, “This Is What Happens When You Die,” is indeed a masterpiece and should be in every record collection. “This is the best album I’ve heard in 10 years,” says Utah songwriter Brian Cousins, “Its as good as Tom Wait’s “Mule Variations” which he won a Grammy for.” Sullivan shows no signs of slowing down, with a new recording studio he built from the ground up in fall of 2007 he’s already recorded enough material for 3 new albums. “After I record an album, I’m done with it, and the thing I’m excited about is like the third album down the road, the one that hasn’t even been written yet.”
Emily Beckensfield, 2008
August 16th, 2008 - 7pm Gepetto's - Holladay, UT
August 20th, 2008 - 9:30 pm The Hog Wallow Pub - Cottonwood Canyon, UT
