Steve Conn: Louisiana-Bred Soul, Powerful Songwriting
On Beautiful Dream, his most personal and fully realized album in a career full of musical accomplishments, singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Steve Conn puzzles out life's changes with searching intensity and grace. Backed by a stellar group of musicians including fellow Louisiana greats Sonny Landreth on slide guitar and Doug Belote on drums, Conn delivers ten new original songs that map life's emotional territory as few songwriters can.
Conn, who has performed on nine Grammy-nominated albums and was named a New Folk Finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival, co-produced Beautiful Dream with Richard McLaurin. The songs were recorded on 2-inch tape at House of David, a small gem of a studio in Conn's adopted town of Nashville that's hosted the likes of Justin Townes Earle, Norah Jones, and Neil Young. "We wanted to get the spontaneity of the old days by recording to tape," Conn says, "because you have to bring your A game. It changes the way you play. You get the moment, and that is so much of what these songs are about, my lifelong effort to live in this moment."
Conn's artistic accolades and partnerships read like a who's who of blues, roots, and Americana music. He grew up in Pineville, Louisiana, the son of "Peanut" Conn, recognized by Melody Maker as one of the best swing violinists in the South, and studied literature at Louisiana State University. Though he moved on to Boulder, Colorado, Los Angeles, and ultimately Nashville, "Louisiana influences me on every level, food, music, culture, vibe, oak trees, writing, New Orleans, Acadiana, gumbo, Professor Longhair, Clifton Chenier, funk, Tennessee Williams, Walker Percy, cypress trees, slow-moving water . . . it's magical. It has a sense of place like no other," Conn says.
After working for many years with his own bands and myriad musical legends (Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, and the Dixie Chicks, to name a few), Conn became the founding musical director for National Public Radio variety show eTown in the early 1990s. There he worked with guest stars James Taylor, Shawn Colvin, David Wilcox, and many others. In Nashville, Conn earned kudos as a songwriter with his critically acclaimed albums River of Madness and Steve Conn; Bonnie Bramlett of the legendary duo Delaney and Bonnie recorded Conn's "Beautiful" as the title song of her most recent album. "The truth is that Conn is one of this city's most complete artists, armed with potent, poetic songs, a soul-saturated voice and a keen sense of groove," wrote Craig Havighurst in The Tennessean.
