Steve hails from Vancouver, B.C. and has been a musician since the
age of 5. When he was 10, he picked up the banjo, at 14, the guitar and at 16 he was
writing and performing with his own group. His first Top 40 writing success came with
Jamie Donald's version of "You're The Only One." No stranger to the music
buisness, Steve has had his music recorded by artists such as B.C. Country Music's
Entertainer of the Year, Bing Armstrong, 'Loverboy' rocker, Paul Dean, and Nashville
country star, Ricky Van Shelton.
A French girl from Quebec, Lucie moved with her family to Ontario
when she was 8. At age 12, she was accepted into music school where she sang with the
award-winning St. Peter's choir. It was there that she became inspired to write songs. She
won a singing contest at 19, which gave her the boost she needed to join a band and hit
the road!
Lucie is the main vocalist on most of the songs and Steve sings lead
on three of the ten songs, plays lead guitar on all songs and wrote eight of the songs on
the album. Lucie also has her penmanship involved with the two songs that she wrote.
Altogether, Steve and Lucie have created one dynamic duo and an impressive first album in
"Straight Up".
Rather than use their names for their website domain, they chose to
describe their music instead, calling it "rockin country blues dot com". That
covers the biggest part of it as there is no one classification for Steve and Lucie's
styles (and yes, I meant that in the plural sense). They go from the deepest country roots
("Borderline") to a rockin' fever of honky tonk ("Tumblin' Down") and
finally meld into country blues ("The Truth In Your Eyes") that is nothing short
of hit material. There's no one nitch to place them but to say they are country covering
the gambit of Americana, country, rock and blues. Hence the title of their domain which I
found very interesting, then understood completely when I heard their music.
The muscians who graced this work of art are first rate and are
worthy of playing in any studio on any album. Their expertise was more than a compliment
to Steve's and Lucie's singing, they were all so in sync it's as if they were one. They
certainly deserve to have their credits involved for their wonderful work... artists one
and all.
Bass: Bob Becker
Piano & B3: Michael Creber
Steel Guitar: Charlie Hase
Acoustic Guitar: Steve Elliottt
Drums and CD Production: John Cody
Fiddle: Frankie Rodgers
Mandolin, slide and electric Guitars: Jim Foster
Guitar Solo on "It's Everything to Me": Mike Crozier
Another treat is that the CD liner is a small booklet filled with
all the credits, photos of everyone as well as the lyrics to all ten songs. This entire
creation makes for a very beautiful package of talent.
The bottom line is, somewhere along the line, Steve Elliottt and
Lucie Walker came together to make music. I can only believe that it was meant to be.
Their sound is unlike any other, their talents, respectively combined, know no boundries.
With it's broad-based appeal, "Straight Up" is one of those albums that will
enrich any music lover's collection.
