Thanks for all your support in Spain and Basque Country, we had a blast!

Pulsa aquí para ver la traducción al Español

Hey folks,

We have all returned safely from our two week tour overseas. The 2009 Grace and Melody Spanish tour was our most successful yet; each night the venues were filled with fans dancing and singing-along. Although we did pay our dues: Jeff and I both caught the stomach flu mid-tour, after the show in Alicante. Luckily we regained enough energy to play to a crammed El Sol in Madrid the following night.

Every city we visited was beautiful and we met so many gracious people along the way. Gijon and Leon were both special nights, but the Barcelona at Apolo 2 was amazing, an absolute blast, with a near sell-out audience. Just a little hint, most of the show was filmed for Barcelona Television, and once we get our hands on it we'll share it with you!

A really BIG THANKS goes out to Edu and Vincent at Funhouse Productions for setting up the whole tour and taking care of & putting up with us for 2 weeks. We'd like to thank all the promoters who helped spread the word. We need to thank our friends who helped, hung-out, and kept us sane: John Stalder, Tim & Sherry Larew (Sherry suffered a broken ankle during the tour but kept on trucking with us!) and of course Turtle Sims.

And last but not least we need to thank all of our wonderful Spanish and Basque Country fans for their enthusiasm and support! We can't wait to go back!

Cheers.

~ Tod

P.S. Dig on these fan videos on YouTube from the trip:

• At the Fall of the Day
• All the Way to Nowhere + Roadblock
• Revelation Sunday + Live with Me [Stones]

Free tunes from each release in the store

You can now download a free selected track from each of the records that we sell in our webstore. These are high quality V0 VBR MP3 files, so they're a bit bigger than you might be accustomed to but the quality difference is definitely worth it. There's no DRM/copy-protection and the files will play in any media player from the 21st century.

Right click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the song links below and and select "Save file" or "Save to Disk" to add these TSB tunes to your collection:

Live Radio Performance Jan 15th @ 10pm CST

Chicagoland & NW Indiana listeners can tune into 90.9 FM;
Anyone can listen live online

Beat the cold and tune into WDCB 90.9 FM (live webcast link) this Thursday, Jan 15 at 10pm Central Time for a live electric TSB performance. The guys are gonna perform a full set of music plus interviews and more. If you're not in the area or can’t get in front of a radio, you can listen via www.wdcb.org (click "listen live" in upper right, or click here for a direct link to the stream.)

G&M Reviewed in Vintage Guitar Magazine

UPDATE 1/9/08: Links fixed, sorry bout that folks. Our new album Grace and Melody received a great review in Vintage Guitar magzine:

It is easy to dig The Steepwater Band, and on this, their fourth studio record, the Chicago trio steps it up a notch with the help of producer Marc Ford, whose tenure with The Black Crowes produced some of the band's best music.

While it's usually difficult to define with a producer does, here Ford's input seems obvious. Guitarist Jeff Massey decorates the album with great playing throughout, starting with "At The Fall Of The Day," a stomping rocker with a great riff and sound. By the time Massey's half-wahed solo breaks out, the listener is very aware they're in for a treat...[read the whole review here]

Grace and Melody now on iTunes

Our latest album, released earlier this month (12/2/08) is now available for download from the iTunes music store.

In case ya didn't know, you can also download individual tracks or the entire album at DigStation and Amazon as well!

TSB in-studio on Fearless Radio 12/18 6-7pm

Thursday, December 18th, visit Fearless Radio's website to listen live to an in-studio performance, cuts from the new album, and interview material w/ Jeff and Tod.

Link: http://www.fearlessradio.com/cms/listen-now.html

G&M Reviewed in Hittin' The Note Magazine

Our new album Grace and Melody received a great review in Hittin' The Note, one of our favorite music magazines.

"Crackling with gritty energy and featuring strikingly direct lyrics, Grace and Melody demonstrates that Steepwater Band is a bluesed-based rock group with a considerable amount of depth and nuance. This may be due in part to the wizened oversight or producer Marc Ford; the veteran guitarist first met the band at a festival in Spain and now has guided them to an impressive and inspiring release. Ford even dons a guitar for a few tracks, most notably..." [read the whole review here]

G&M Reviewed on JamBase.com

"Everything about Grace And Melody (released November 26 on Diamond Day) has the feel of natural born rockers doggedly focused on making a solid musical impact, the broad, hearty stride of men determined to get everyone's rocks off. It takes an album like this to make one appreciate where dedication to the basics, tweaked ever so nicely, can be just as satisfying, if not more so, than endless innovation..." [read the whole review at JamBase]

G&M Reviewed in Illinois Entertainer

Review by Mike O'Cull, as appearing in the latest edition:

"Chicago's Steepwater Band has been playing a blend of blues, boogie, and psychedelia around the world since 1998, progressing from basic blues to an original sound that incorporates more songwriting and classic rock influences. Grace And Melody continues the evolution; produced by ex-Black Crowes guitarist and Grammy winner Marc Ford, the record has an updated '70s vibe and, although it has a strong blues influence, aspires to a rock audience. "Lord Knows" and "The Healer" stand out, but the whole album works if you ever wondered what the Faces might sound like in the 21st Century."

Grace and Melody Available Now!

Our new album, produced by Marc Ford, is available for purchase today! Preorders are shipping now and new orders will be filled as they come in.

Very soon you can order the CD from CDbaby if you prefer.

All songs will also be available for download from iTunes and DigStation shortly, stay tuned and we'll let you know when!

Steepwater Web Store is Open for Business!
Now accepting Grace and Melody Preorders

For the first time ever you can buy merch directly from the band without attending a gig. All payment processing is done through PayPal's merchant system and we accept most major credit cards. You can use a PayPal account but you don't need one (and there's no requirement to sign up either).

Tonight's CD-release gig is your first opportunity to get your mitts on Grace and Melody, but if you can't make because, say, you live in Germany, preorder your copy today for the official December 2nd release!

Joe Interviewed on Cara's Basement

Longtime Chicago radio personality Cara Carriveau posted to her website a podcast featuring her interview with Joe Winters.

You can download the entire interview here in mp3. [18MB // 13:25 run time]

Copy/paste this URL if you have trouble downloading:

http://media.libsyn.com/media/carasbasement/The_Steepwater_Band.mp3

TSB on the Radio Sunday 11/23/08

UPDATE: You can now download an mp3 of the short but positive commentary by Richard Milne of WXRT Chicago before and after playing 'Lord Knows', track #3 on Grace and Melody. [4MB // 4:20 run time]

On Sunday November 23, three radio stations in the Chicagoland & northwest Indiana area will be featuring The Steepwater Band in anticipation of their CD release & 10th Anniversary show this Thanksgiving Eve. If you like what you hear be sure to let the stations know you want more TSB ~ contact info for each station is provided below.

WXRT (93.1FM) @ 12:45pm 312.329.9978 | comments@wxrt.com

XROCK (103.9 FM) @ 6:00pm - 9:00pm 219.462.8654 | xrock1039.com/contact.php

Q101 (101.1FM) @ 10:00pm - 11:00pm 312.591.8300 | send texts to 99161

CD-Release & 10th Anniversary Celebration!
Free Show at Double Door Wed 11/26/08

The Steepwater Band celebrates their 10 year mark by releasing new album at Chicago‘s Double Door on November 26, a free concert.

Diamond Day Records is proud to announce the release of "Grace And Melody", the fourth full-length record from Chicago-based rock n‘ roll outfit, The Steepwater Band. The release show, Wednesday, November 26 at the Double Door, also celebrates a decade of the band‘s existence. That evening the band plans on performing a set heavily rooted in "Grace And Melody" with some sprinkles of past recordings. The new album, which was produced by Marc Ford, former Black Crowes and Ben Harper guitarist, is the group's strongest record to date, already receiving rave reviews.

The free concert, which starts at 8pm, also features some of the Midwest‘s best up-and-coming talent. The Lions Of Hazelwood (St.Louis) will start the evening off with their own brand of minimalistic-Delta blues, and the Dirty Rooks (Chicago) bring their commune-soul music to the stage, ala Cocker and the Mad-Dogs. Plus DJ Michael Patrick will be spinning rock n‘ roll vinyl throughout the night.

What: "GRACE AND MELODY" Album Release Show with special guests THE DIRTY ROOKS and LIONS OF HAZELWOOD

When: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 8pm

Where: Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Tickets =FREE | www.doubledoor.com | 773.489.3160

Gig History Now Online

Check out the band's log of past gigs spanning the last decade.

We're going to continue rolling out new content on the website so stay tuned.

New Website

Our pal Baker is currently cranking out a new website for your interweb enjoyment. The new steepwater.com will have some cool stuff like a pop-out music player, gig history, and a calendar feed you can plug into your RSS reader. Merch will be for sale directly on the site a little later too. (We just pressed a reissue of Revelation Sunday which is now available at shows and CDBaby.)

In the meantime, checkout our newly-spiffed MySpace page where you can listen to two brand new tracks from our new album, Grace and Melody, due this fall.