Steve Madewell - Hometown Blues - CD - New - Sealed

Sometimes it seems like everyone’s looking for the hottest, new young band. But when it comes to quality music in our own backyard, the area is teeming with excellent songwriters, players and performers of all ages, many of which we take for granted. NE Ohio’s best known folksinger Alex Bevan, for instance, a fixture on the scene for 50 years, has never sounded in better voice or played more skillful guitar and continues to add great new songs to his repertoire.

Less well known is Steve Madewell, who’s been making music for over four decades and had several albums to his credit already before dropping his latest, Hometown Blues, late last year. It was produced and engineered by yet another under-recognized mainstay of the local music scene, Bill Lestock , who also played many of the instruments on the album, in addition to Madewell’s acoustic guitar.

“The concept for this recording took a long time to mature and would not exist without Bill Lestock,” says Madewell. “Every song has been dramatically influenced by his talents and skills. He encouraged me and believed in each song.

I’ve been playing and singing for a long time and realized years ago that music is best when it is shared.”

Hometown Blues features 11 beautifully crafted tunes primarily in the modern singer-songwriter folk vein that invite repeated listens. Madewell’s strong voice, with a typical folk-style warmth and intimacy and a slight nasal edge that adds a sparkle, delivers them with a sense of nostalgia and love that avoids sentimentality on tracks such as “To See Your Face Again” (buoyed by a harmony vocal from another longtime scenester Robin Stratton), “Rough Edges,” “Early On in Life.” And “Adirondack Dreaming,” your obligator folkie “love of nature” tune. He rocks out hard on the high-energy “I Want To Come Back to You” and gets a little old-timey on “Little Willie Blues,” giving the album some changes of pace, tempo and mood.