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Review by James McNair

Much of Oakland, California-born veteran Seasick Steve’s appeal lies with his story. Ousted from his home at age 14, the self-styled "Pied Piper of the low down hobo blues" spent itinerant years hopping freight trains, sleeping rough and working as a carnie. He met and played with John Lee Hooker and Lightnin’ Hopkins, and when he sings “Xmas Prison Blues,” you know it’s a diary entry not a flight of fantasy. Been there, done that? Damn right.

Crucially, his story is also that of the ill-starred outsider who eventually triumphs. When Seasick Steve made his 2004 debut, Cheap, in his early 60s, it appealed to young indie fans whose initiation in gnarly country blues had been done to the likes of the White Stripes and the Black Keys.

Soon came November 2006’s better promoted, bigger-selling Dog House Music, and a Mojo gong for “Best Breakthrough Act,” an honor wonderfully perverse given its recipient’s advanced years.

Cheap, though, saw him step out with Swedish rhythm section the Level Devils. Jo Husmo is on drums and Kai Christofferson is on double bass. The pair’s accompaniment is as lean as a pile of old bones; a perfect match for the rough-hewn blues motifs Seasick spirits from economical, custom made instruments such as his Three-Stringed Tranz Wonder and his One-Stringed Diddley-Bo.

We’re mostly talking venerable Delta, rather than Chicago blues. You can hear the John Lee Hooker influence — albeit turned up to 11- on the title track and on the more laid back “Love Thang.” Here, as on nuggets such as “8 Ball” and “Rooster Blues,” the grooves are flypaper-sticky and a joy to get caught up in.

Like Tom Waits, Seasick Steve has music in his lived-in speaking voice, so the albums parlando narratives “Story # 1” and “Story # 2” also work well. When our hero recalls sleeping rough by heat-omitting machinery outside a grocery store called Lucky’s one winter, it’s with affection, not sadness.