Legendary South African musician and songwriter Steve Louw‘s latest single, ‘Cruel Hand of Fate‘ features Grammy nominated blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa.
It’s taken from Louw’s new double album and third solo release Between Time that’s available as a 2-CD digipack, double vinyl, and digitally, wherein you’ll find the guitarist delving into blues rock, country, and Americana.
“Steve Louw and I have been making records for many years now. When I introduced him to Joe Bonamassa in Vienna more than a decade ago, they got along very well,” said producer Kevin Shirley. “When Steve had the opportunity to invite Joe to play on his records, Joe was enamoured with Steve’s style and was happy to be a part of it. I think Joe has now played on three or four of Steve’s albums, and it’s always a thrill for us all. It’s a meeting of minds.”
“Before highways and cars people travelled by foot, horse and then train if you could afford it, or of you could jump on board,” said Louw about the new single ‘Cruel Hand Of Fate’.
“Trains have a mystery to them, their rhythm coming from way off and then fading into the future. As a kid I used to put coins on the train tracks and feel the warm squashed coin in my hand as the train clacked away.
“The song is about a traveling musician who feels that his time is running out. He needs to jump a ride to see his love one last time. The song has the rhythm of the train tracks and a nod to the journey we are all on.”
Available digitally you can check out the video here at RAMzine.
Despite its title, the music on ‘Cruel Hand Of Fate’ proves to be upbeat Americana-inflected with a little rocked-up line dancing in there, Louw’s vocal delivery optimistic with Bonamassa adding to this throughout the song – And for those guitar afficionados out there, we’re reliably informed that he uses a Fender Telecaster B Bender guitar; whereby you can move the guitar’s bridge to create a pedal steel effect, thus creating a counterpoint to the brooding slide guitar on this particular song.
Ironically, it’s another of a number of songs just getting released by various folks that automatically cries out summer, despite us now heading into the tail-end of the year… Maybe these musicians know something about the coming weather we need to hear more about!
Between Time, arrives decades into a long career, stretching back to the 1990s, when Louw partnered with Shirley while fronting Big Sky, his vehicle to acclaim in his native South Africa.
Louw broke back into the music scene rousingly with his 2021 solo album Headlight Dreams, that Shirley helped push into existence, telling Louw after a decade of silence that it was time for him to make another record. He assembled a crack band, including keyboardist Kevin McKendree (John Hiatt), drummer Greg Morrow (Billy Gibbons), bass player Alison Prestwood (Buddy Miller), guitarists Rob McNelley (Hank Williams Jr), and Doug Lancio (Bob Dylan).
Headlight Dreams received solid reviews and earned him his third South African Music Award nomination. Thunder and Rain followed hot on its heels, described as “a rich and natural album of muscular folk and insistent rock”, a blend that Louw has refined throughout his career.
With Between Time, Louw is said to explore those moments that fall outside the strict constructs of time with songs that have past, present, and future, while using imagery that’s “both timeless and present”. Cut live in the studio with his same band; the music’s described as having a “transcendent quality, a chemistry that blends craft and inspiration into something mystical”.
The stars align on three songs recorded back-to-back on the same day. The heartfelt ‘Killers’, where “Killers with numbers not names, came killing across the plains”, flows into, “In the Badlands, sand turned to dust, outsiders stand, steel turned to rust,” on the driving ‘Giants Walk The Land’ and to a new beginning on ‘Time to Get On’, “As we face to the sun, it’s time to get on”.
Killers’ and ‘Streets Of Rain’ came out as a double single release back in July. ‘Killers’ reflects the madness of waging war on each other. The song was written after hearing an audio clip of intercepted radio chatter in the first few weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the intense guitar-driven track’s energy evokes feelings of helplessness and rage.
“I wanted the song to feel spiritual, powerful, and cutting and exist on different time planes,” said Louw. “When we recorded ‘Killers’, it felt like we were stepping across into an earlier flickering time.” Doug Lancio’s overdriven Harmony Rocket guitar locks with Steve’s acoustic and Rob McNelley’s soulful slide guitar to create a powerful sonic statement of rage and grief.
“The sound of this track is what I love about making records,” said Shirley. “World class musicians together, creating art. Capturing those moments and being part of that experience never grows old.”
‘Killers’ is available on all streaming platforms here and you can watch the official music video here.
The evocative Hammond organ playing of B3 wizard Lachy Doley and the chorused electric guitar and acoustic teases out the melancholy of ‘Streets Of Rain’. “It’s a song about loss,” said Louw. “Although our pain is personal, you are not alone. When it’s coming down on you, it feels like you’ll never get out of there, but you will.”
“Lachy is one of the greatest Hammond players in the world, right up there with Steve Winwood and Booker T,” offered Shirley. “When I was finishing off ‘Streets Of Rain‘, I knew his playing would be perfect. His beautiful solo captures the essence of the song.”
‘Streets Of Rain is available on all streaming platforms here and you can watch the music video here.
Hearing the band discover the inherent passion and tenderness within the songs is part of the pleasure of Between Time. Their chemistry is evident on the low-down shuffle of ‘Do Me Good’ and the country honk of ‘Alibi’. They swing hard on ‘Get Real Gone’ and ratchet up the tension on ‘Flowers On The Graves of Doves’, a ringing, roiling number that conjures the mystery of early R.E.M.
You feel the band as much as you hear them, as on ‘Highway to the Sun’, the eight-minute exit to the 20-song collection. Louw is as much a member of the band as he is its leader. His steady, propulsive guitar playing providing as much of a connective tissue as his unguarded voice.
Collaborative energy is a crucial element of Between Time, extending to guest appearances by Joe Bonamassa, who accentuates the Blues on ‘Cruel Hand Of Fate’ with an explosive country-style solo. Added to that is Jim Moginie, whose eclectic guitar sound and creative force evoke the natural world’s power on ‘Giants Walk The Land’, and Hammond maestro Lachy Doley, who teases out the reassuring comfort lurking within ‘Streets of Rain’.
The aforementioned ‘Giants Walk The Land’ was previously released as a single, with Shirley commenting: “Two great songwriters and musicians blend inspiration and craft into something mystical,” it being co-written and featuring Midnight Oil‘s Jim Moginie). That single is available on all streaming platforms here and you can also watch the official music video for ‘Giants Walk The Land’ here at RAMzine.
The full track listing is, CD 1: ‘Alibi’, ‘We Had It All’, ‘Beggar Tonight’, ‘Giant’s Walk The Land’, ‘Killers’, ‘StreeJanes Dream #3’, ‘Do Me Good’, ‘Flowers From The Graves Of Doves’, ‘Don’t Leave A Heart Alone’ and ‘Time To Get On’. Then on CD 2: ‘Get Real Gone’, ‘The Way Your Heart Beats’, Take Me For A Ride’, ‘Streets Of Rain’, ‘Cruel Hand Of Fate’, ‘Free To Fly’, ‘You ‘N Me Tonight’, ‘Cold Cold Rails’, ‘Ever Be Undone’ and ‘Highway To The Sun’.
Between Time can be ordered by clicking here.
