Who Made You God?

By George Varga, POP MUSIC CRITIC
San Diego Union Tribune


If every artist had the skill, courage and tenacity of Leucadia’s Steve White, the world of music (if not the world itself) would surely be a better place.

A rollicking one-man blues band who can create nearly as much aural combustion by himself as he can with his one-woman, two-man trio, White has been an invaluable mainstay of the San Diego scene for years.

He’s earned the respect and admiration of his fellow performers not only for his formidable songwriting skills and potent chops on acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals, but for his self-effacing manner and repeatedly lending a helping hand to others and to an array of worthy causes.

Now, it is White, 59, who is receiving a helping hand from his fellow musicians, as he battles back from the esophageal cancer that on Sept. 22 led to the surgical removal of his vocal cords.

He is currently undergoing chemotherapy once a week and radiation treatments five times a week. It’s a debilitating regimen that, understandably, would have most people laying low. But not White, who — carrying on a tradition he began in 1989 — is still performing each weekend at Encintas Seaside Bazaar flea market (just north of the La Paloma Theatre).

By necessity, his performances now are vocal- and harmonica-free. But the fact that he can play at all is inspiring, let alone his ability to hold an audience’s attention in an all-instrumental format that, tips aside, is clearly a labor of love for him.

Alas, like far too many musicians in this country, White has no medical insurance to cover the formidable expenses his cancer treatment has incurred. That is why more than a dozen of his fellow artists are donating their services to play a benefit concert for him Saturday afternoon at the Encinitas Library’s Community Room. The show is headlined by top singer-songwriter Jack Tempchin (who has written classic hits for The Eagles, Johnny Rivers and Glenn Frey), redoubtable jazz vibraphonist Dave Pike and roots-rocking San Diego powerhouse Candye Kane (who is herself a recent cancer survivor). They’ll be joined by Nathan James, Steve Mendoza, Semisi & Fulabula, and more than a dozen other performers — likely including White himself — in what will be the third of four benefits for him this month alone (following two in November).

If you’re unable to get to Saturday’s benefit but wish to help, log onto stevewhiteblue.com. And it’s not too soon to start planning to attend the next benefit on his behalf, a Jan. 23 show at North Park’s Old Time Music that will feature Gregory Page, Lisa Sanders, Robin Henkel, Jim Earp, Jeff Morin, Chuck Perrin, Joe Rathburn, Berkley Hart and more.


Before the Illness:

It is not a simple undertaking to adequately describe the work and art of this exceptional musician. Steve White, lives near San Diego, California.He has developed a unique sound and style seldom heard in our region. With his live shows he leaves his audience spellbound with the impression that they're listening to an entire band.

He celebrates a blues-drenched “songwriter performance” of the finest order. It would be an injustice to simply label him a “Bluesman” although his music owes more than a nod to that tradition. Even the songs he hasn't written himself become his when he plays them. His style is expressive and highly percussive. Listen to Steve. Here is what you get: His guitar in a low tuning of his own invention, he plays a bass line while alternating a slap-string right hand style with rhythmic accents on the off-beats, playing the guitar-top like a drum. With a slide on his pinky, a wailing blues harmonica on a rack in front of his mouth filling the breaks between raspy-voiced verses, and his clog-shod feet drumming away on an amplified footboard of his own design - the concert audience experiences a musical thunderstorm. John D’Agostino calls it a “voodoo symphony of pings, plonks and wacks”. Steve’s entire performance is unbelievably virtuosic; he neither emphasizes the technical tricks, nor are they perceptible. Only when one consciously tries to separate all the elements can one detect the complexity of the mix.

Steve White is the worldwide endorser of market leader AER (manufacturer of high-quality amplifiers and equipment for acoustic instruments). Because of this collaboration, his successful guest appearances, concert tours, and festival shows in addition to performances at fairs and exhibitions take him around the entire globe.

The European public is in the process of discovering him. He continues to build his excellent reputation through his CD releases, his steadily growing audience, and his outstanding concerts that capture considerable media interest. According to industry experts, the time is right to introduce Steve White to a broader audience in his country.

It's worth it to look forward to Steve White!