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Press

"Hartsoe has certainly mastered Petty-style heartland rock." -- Americana Highways

"The new single, 'Ocracoke,' is a fantastic polished Pop/Americana tune.  If you love Counting Crows, Tom Petty, MudHoney, Sponge, and spectacular musicianship coupled with great songwriting ... this is for you." -- IndieStrong

"It’s been too long since we’ve heard Americana this genuine. Inspired by Tom Petty and Ryan Adams, Steve Hartsoe is full of melodic spirit and gruff guitar lines. ...”  -- Milk Crater

"Steve Hartsoe’s new EP, ‘Gaslighted,' comes straight through the front door without opening it, not bothering to knock or wipe its feet. The vocals are as gritty as they come, the solos on the money and this is a fine example of blues rock-influenced Americana." -- Americana UK 

“Steve Hartsoe is able to wrest the deepest roots of Americana to deliver material that has at its core the key elements of rock ‘n’ roll and blues-rock, giving it a slightly retro-feel and a more global appeal than is normally the case with the genre.”  — Emerging Indie Bands, London  

"Steve Hartsoe sings with the conviction of a nomad bleeding his heart dry, performing for anyone from the side of a boxcar."  — Richard Murray, POW Magazine, San Francisco  

Bio

Steve Hartsoe is a Raleigh, N.C.-based singer-songwriter who blends the rock and folkie strains of Americana with keen lyrical observations ranging from the daily of life to the eternal – a thread that resonates throughout his new indie album, “Faithless Town,” out March 8, 2024, on digital platforms and CD.

The album’s first single, “Rue Avenue,” dropped Feb. 9, followed by “A Thousand Cuts” on March 5.

The former AP journalist’s songs reflect the struggle to keep going, whether through tragedy or while wrestling with life's biggest questions. That's been a theme throughout Hartsoe’s career, from fronting an alt-rock band in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s-’90s to playing solo as singer-songwriter in his current home state of North Carolina.

On “Faithless Town,” the focus is on surviving an extremely difficult period in his marriage. One of the healing aspects to come out of this beauty-for-ashes experience is writing songs with his wife, Shannon.

“She’s an outstanding storyteller, and has always worked as a freelance writer or in communications,” he says. “But when our marriage hit a rough patch in 2022, she started writing lyrics as a way to express what she was going through. I thought they were very creative and deep, so I put a couple to music I was working on, then a couple more. We ended up co-writing four songs on the new album.”

One song in particular, “A Thousand Cuts,” is a blistering recollection of life in the center of the relationship storm from Shannon’s perspective. Local filmmaker Alvin Sloan created a video for the song.

“Faithless Town” features longtime friend and Nashville ace Dave Ristrim (Luke Bryan, Jewel) on lap steel (“Faithless Town-Acoustic”) and lead guitar (“Broke Down”), plus a variety of stellar bass guitar and cello playing from new contributor Jeff Hatley (“A Thousand Cuts,” “Faithless Town,” “Come to Me,” “New Year’s Eve,” “New York Dues”).

Hartsoe also enlisted the help of decades-old friend Joe Simpson, an uber-versatile guitarist and producer he met when both were in competing bands in the San Jose, California, music scene of the late 1980s. 

“Joe asked me to sing on a Bob Dylan song for a project he was working on, in which a variety of his musician friends contribute parts. We really gelled so he returned the favor by playing guitar on several tracks. Joe’s wife, Julie, contributes powerful harmonies on “A Thousand Cuts,” synthesizer/accordion on “Rue” and piano on “Revived.” Local standout singer-songwriter Rebecca Ward sings harmony on “Come to Me” and “Rue Avenue.”

Hartsoe’s two sons, Eli (23) and Jude (13), play drums on the album.

“Faithless Town” was recorded at contributors’ home studios. As with all of Hartsoe’s recent recordings, Kevin McNoldy mixed and mastered the album at Cphonic Mastering in Raleigh, N.C.

Background
Hartsoe honed his musical skills fronting an alternative rock band in the San Francisco area in the 1980s and ‘90s while sharing the bill with such notable artists as Chris Isaak, Todd Rundgren, Mudhoney, Young Fresh Fellows and, later as a solo artist, with Dan Vickrey (now of Counting Crows).

After seven years, San Jose-based London Down (later, The Raging Marys) called it quits. Hartsoe then began a solo career, tapping the Americana wellspring that nourished his early musical years and performing at cafes, churches and on street corners throughout Central and Northern California with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica. Along the way he performed at landmark clubs including the Starry Plough in Berkeley and Hotel Utah in San Francisco.

A job opportunity with The Associated Press landed Hartsoe in the Raleigh, N.C., area in 2003, where he has continued to write songs and perform, sometimes with a three-piece backing band featuring Eli Hartsoe on drums, Wahba on bass and Russ Bullock on lead guitar.

-- Steven McReynolds 

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Venues Performed at:

PNC Arena (Hurricanes game), Raleigh, NC
NC State Fair, Raleigh, NC
Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh, NC
Motorco Music Hall, Durham, NC
Bond Brothers Eastside, Cary, NC
Fall Festival, Holly Springs, NC
Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Nash Street Tavern, Hillsborough, NC
Kings, Raleigh, NC
Jive Hive, Carthage, NC
Berkeley Cafe, Raleigh, NC
Hotel Utah, San Francisco, CA
Starry Plough, Berkeley, CA 

Videos