Steve Wynn (songwriter)
Encyclopedia
Steve Wynn is a songwriter
based in New York
(born in California
). He led the band the Dream Syndicate
from 1981 to 1989 and afterward began a solo career.
, Wynn played guitar in the Davis, California
-based band The Suspects, whose members included vocalist Kendra Smith
(who later played bass in the Dream Syndicate
), Russ Tolman and Gavin Blair (who would form True West
); in 1979 they released a single, "It's Up to You" b/w "Talking Loud." Two years later, under the name 15 Minutes, he self-released another single, "Last Chance for You" b/w "That's What You Always Say" (later performed by the Dream Syndicate).
Though they were popular with critics, an influence on other musicians, and signed briefly to a major label, the Dream Syndicate
were not commercially successful. They did establish, however, the fan base on which Wynn built his solo career.
In 2008, he formed The Baseball Project
with Peter Buck
, Scott McCaughey
, and his wife, drummer Linda Pitmon.
of Concrete Blonde
, backing work by bassist Fernando Saunders (a frequent sideman of Lou Reed
, to whom Wynn was often compared early in his career), drummer D. J. Bonebrake from the L.A. punk band X, Howe Gelb of Giant Sand
and saxophonist Steve Berlin from Los Lobos
. Peter Buck
, from R.E.M.
, played on its follow-up, Dazzling Display, and co-wrote the title song. Backing on Melting in the Dark
(1996) was provided by the Boston band Come
.
Here Come the Miracles (2001) was his best-selling solo album to date, and the best-reviewed, appearing at year's end on numerous critical Top Ten lists.
In 1985, Wynn wrote a collection of songs with Dan Stuart
of Green on Red
, and recorded and released them as Danny and Dusty. In the 1990s, he was a part of the indie supergroup Gutterball along with Stephen McCarthy of The Long Ryders
, Bob Rupe
of The Silos
and Cracker
, and Bryan Harvey
and Johnny Hott
of House of Freaks
.
The double CD From a Man of Mysteries: A Steve Wynn Tribute was released by the German label Blue Rose in 2004 and features Wynn's songs performed by the likes of Concrete Blonde
, the Silos, Chuck Prophet
, The Minus 5
, Russ Tolman of True West
and others.
Wynn is at present more popular in Europe than in the United States. While domestic tours are rare, he continues to perform regularly overseas.
Steve allows the recording and trading of his live concerts and some of the recordings are available from the Live Music Archive at archive.org (see link).
On August 26, 2007, Wynn debuted a new band, Hazel Motes (the same name as the protagonist of Flannery O'Connor
's novel Wise Blood
), at Magnetic Fields in Brooklyn, New York. The line-up consists of Steve Wynn, Linda Pitmon, Steve Espinola and NY based band the Teenage Prayers. The band's My Space page describes them as "A whiskey-fueled rock and roll gospel band whose spiritual furor is matched only by it’s self destructive dark side."
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
based in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(born in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
). He led the band the Dream Syndicate
Dream Syndicate
The Dream Syndicate was an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California active from 1981 to 1989. The band was associated with the Paisley Underground music movement.-History:...
from 1981 to 1989 and afterward began a solo career.
Career in bands
Before forming the Dream SyndicateDream Syndicate
The Dream Syndicate was an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California active from 1981 to 1989. The band was associated with the Paisley Underground music movement.-History:...
, Wynn played guitar in the Davis, California
Davis, California
Davis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
-based band The Suspects, whose members included vocalist Kendra Smith
Kendra Smith
Kendra Smith is an American musician who was a founding member of Dream Syndicate, a member of Opal, and later recorded as a solo artist.-Biography:...
(who later played bass in the Dream Syndicate
Dream Syndicate
The Dream Syndicate was an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California active from 1981 to 1989. The band was associated with the Paisley Underground music movement.-History:...
), Russ Tolman and Gavin Blair (who would form True West
True West (band)
True West were a guitar band, often considered part of The Paisley Underground. Singer Gavin Blair and guitarists Richard McGrath and Russ Tolman were the nucleus of the group.- History :...
); in 1979 they released a single, "It's Up to You" b/w "Talking Loud." Two years later, under the name 15 Minutes, he self-released another single, "Last Chance for You" b/w "That's What You Always Say" (later performed by the Dream Syndicate).
Though they were popular with critics, an influence on other musicians, and signed briefly to a major label, the Dream Syndicate
Dream Syndicate
The Dream Syndicate was an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California active from 1981 to 1989. The band was associated with the Paisley Underground music movement.-History:...
were not commercially successful. They did establish, however, the fan base on which Wynn built his solo career.
In 2008, he formed The Baseball Project
The Baseball Project
The Baseball Project is a supergroup composed of Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon formed in 2007. The performers came together from discussions between McCaughey and Wynn at R.E.M.'s March 21, 2007 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in...
with Peter Buck
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....
, Scott McCaughey
Scott McCaughey
As a singer and songwriter, Scott McCaughey is the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5.He is also bassist for Robyn Hitchcock's most recent touring band, The Venus 3, along with Bill Rieflin and Peter Buck....
, and his wife, drummer Linda Pitmon.
Solo career
Since 1990, Wynn has released a number of albums exploring various musical styles. His first solo album, Kerosene Man, included a duet with Johnette NapolitanoJohnette Napolitano
Johnette Napolitano is an American singer, songwriter and bassist best known as the lead vocalist/songwriter and bassist for the alternative rock group Concrete Blonde.- Solo career :...
of Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde is an alternative rock band based in the United States. They were initially active from 1982 to 1995, and again from 2001 to 2004, and once again in 2010.-Biography:...
, backing work by bassist Fernando Saunders (a frequent sideman of Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, to whom Wynn was often compared early in his career), drummer D. J. Bonebrake from the L.A. punk band X, Howe Gelb of Giant Sand
Giant Sand
Giant Sand is an American rock band, based in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The name is shortened from the original Giant Sandworms, a reference to the creatures in the Dune books. Overseen by singer-songwriter Howe Gelb, its membership has shifted over the years—at times with each album...
and saxophonist Steve Berlin from Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
. Peter Buck
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....
, from R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, played on its follow-up, Dazzling Display, and co-wrote the title song. Backing on Melting in the Dark
Melting in the Dark (Steve Wynn album)
Melting in the Dark is an album by Steve Wynn recorded with a backing band consisting of all the members of Come. -History:Shortly before making the record, bassist Sean O'Brien and drummer Arthur Johnson quit Come, making this album's recording sessions the last time the original lineup of Come...
(1996) was provided by the Boston band Come
Come (US band)
Come was an American alternative rock band from 1990-2001. Come was formed in Boston by Thalia Zedek , Chris Brokaw , Arthur Johnson , and Sean O'Brien .-Band history:...
.
Here Come the Miracles (2001) was his best-selling solo album to date, and the best-reviewed, appearing at year's end on numerous critical Top Ten lists.
In 1985, Wynn wrote a collection of songs with Dan Stuart
Dan Stuart
Dan Stuart is an American musician best known as the leader/singer/songwriter of 80's post punk, alt-country rock band, Green On Red , and for his teaming with Steve Wynn as Danny & Dusty.-History:Raised in Tucson, Arizona, Dan Stuart founded punk band The Serfers in 1979...
of Green on Red
Green on Red
Green on Red was an American rock band, formed in the Tucson, Arizona punk scene, but based for most of its career in Los Angeles, California, where it was loosely associated with the Paisley Underground...
, and recorded and released them as Danny and Dusty. In the 1990s, he was a part of the indie supergroup Gutterball along with Stephen McCarthy of The Long Ryders
The Long Ryders
The Long Ryders are an American alternative country and Paisley Underground band, principally active between 1983 and 1987, and which reformed in 2004 to do a reunion tour...
, Bob Rupe
Bob Rupe
Bob Rupe, born in Detroit, Michigan on September 16, 1956, was co-founder of the NYC based indie band Silos. He was lead guitarist, writer and producer for the band from 1985-1991. Bob Rupe was also a member of the indie supergroup Gutterball in 1992. Bassist for Cracker from 1994-2000...
of The Silos
Silos (band)
The Silos are a rock band formed by Walter Salas-Humara and Bob Rupe in New York City in 1985.-History:Prior to starting the Silos, Salas-Humara had been a member of The Vulgar Boatmen, and Rupe was in a Florida band, The Bobs. The band put out the independently-released album About Her Steps in...
and Cracker
Cracker (band)
Cracker is an American alternative rock band featuring founders/songwriters singer David Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman. They are best known for their platinum-selling 1993 album, Kerosene Hat, featuring the hit songs "Low", "Euro-Trash Girl", and "Get Off This".Founders Lowery and Hickman...
, and Bryan Harvey
Bryan Harvey (musician)
Bryan Harvey was an American musician noted for his fronting role in House of Freaks. He was murdered with his wife Kathryn and their two daughters Stella and Ruby on January 1, 2006....
and Johnny Hott
Johnny Hott
Johnny Hott was the drummer for the House of Freaks, a musical duo with singer/guitarist Bryan Harvey. He was also one of three drummers for the band Cracker. He has also played drums for indie supergroup Gutterball, Sparklehorse, and Timothy Bailey and The Humans.Hott currently lives in Richmond,...
of House of Freaks
House of Freaks
House of Freaks was a two-man band formed in Richmond, Virginia in the mid 1980s. Bryan Harvey played guitar and sang, and Johnny Hott played percussion...
.
The double CD From a Man of Mysteries: A Steve Wynn Tribute was released by the German label Blue Rose in 2004 and features Wynn's songs performed by the likes of Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde is an alternative rock band based in the United States. They were initially active from 1982 to 1995, and again from 2001 to 2004, and once again in 2010.-Biography:...
, the Silos, Chuck Prophet
Chuck Prophet
Chuck Prophet is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. A Californian, Prophet first achieved notice in the American psychedelic/desert rock group Green on Red, with whom he toured and recorded in the 1980s...
, The Minus 5
The Minus 5
The Minus 5 is an American rock band, headed by musician Scott McCaughey and featuring R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.-Band history:Formed in 1993, McCaughey designed the Minus 5 as a pop collective, with each record the group put out featuring a new lineup...
, Russ Tolman of True West
True West (band)
True West were a guitar band, often considered part of The Paisley Underground. Singer Gavin Blair and guitarists Richard McGrath and Russ Tolman were the nucleus of the group.- History :...
and others.
Wynn is at present more popular in Europe than in the United States. While domestic tours are rare, he continues to perform regularly overseas.
Steve allows the recording and trading of his live concerts and some of the recordings are available from the Live Music Archive at archive.org (see link).
On August 26, 2007, Wynn debuted a new band, Hazel Motes (the same name as the protagonist of Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...
's novel Wise Blood
Wise Blood
Wise Blood is the first novel by American author Flannery O'Connor, published in 1952. The novel was assembled from several disparate stories first published in Mademoiselle, Sewanee Review, and Partisan Review...
), at Magnetic Fields in Brooklyn, New York. The line-up consists of Steve Wynn, Linda Pitmon, Steve Espinola and NY based band the Teenage Prayers. The band's My Space page describes them as "A whiskey-fueled rock and roll gospel band whose spiritual furor is matched only by it’s self destructive dark side."
Dream Syndicate
- The Dream Syndicate EP (1982)
- The Days of Wine and Roses (1982)
- Medicine Show (1984)
- This Is Not the New Dream Syndicate Album......Live! (1984)
- Out of the Grey (1986)
- Ghost Stories (1988)
- Live at Raji's (1989)
- Tell Me When It's Over – The Best of Dream Syndicate 1982–1988 (1992)
- 3: The Lost Tapes 1985–1988 (1993)
- The Day Before Wine and Roses (1995)
- Complete Live At Raji's (2004) 2CD
Solo
- Kerosene Man (1990)
- Dazzling Display (1992)
- Fluorescent (1994)
- Melting in the DarkMelting in the Dark (Steve Wynn album)Melting in the Dark is an album by Steve Wynn recorded with a backing band consisting of all the members of Come. -History:Shortly before making the record, bassist Sean O'Brien and drummer Arthur Johnson quit Come, making this album's recording sessions the last time the original lineup of Come...
(1996) - Sweetness and Light (1997)
- My Midnight (1999)
- Here Come the MiraclesHere Come the MiraclesHere Come the Miracles is an double album by Steve Wynn, released in 2001 on Blue Rose Records.The album was recorded in Tucson with his friends Linda Pitmon , Chris Brokaw , Chris Cacavas ....
(2001) - Live in Bremen (2008)
- Crossing Dragon Bridge (2008)
Steve Wynn and The Miracle Three
- Static Transmission (2003)
- ...tick...tick...tick (2005 Europe, 2006 USA)
- Live Tick (2006)
- Northern Aggression (2010)
Danny and Dusty
- The Lost Weekend (1985)
- Cast Iron Soul (2007)
- Here's to You Max Morlock (2007)
with The Baseball Project
- Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying QuailsVolume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying QuailsThe Baseball Project's first album, Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails was released on Yep Roc Records on July 8, 2008. The album is available on compact disc and digitally on Yep Roc's site.-Track listing:#"Past Time" – 2:57...
(2008) - Broadside Ballads = One song per month for free download in ESPN.com's The Life
- March: All Future and No Past
- April: Cubs 2010
- May: 30 Doc
- June: Lima Time!
- July: Phenom
- August: (Do The) Triple Crown
- September: DL Blues
- October: That's The Way It's Gonna Be
- November: The Giants Win the Pennant
- Volume 2: High and Inside (2011)
Compilations
- Advertisements for Myself (1998) - limited edition compilation
- The Emusic Singles Collection (2001) - 12 internet singles released each month in 2000.
- Riding Shotgun (2004) - limited edition compilation
- What I Did After My Band Broke Up / Visitation Rights (2005)
Other
- Take Your Flunky and Dangle (1994) – outtakes 1990–1994
- The Suitcase Sessions (1997) – sessions from Melting in the Dark Era
- Pick of the Litter (1999) – outtakes 1996–1999
Singles
- Carolyn (1990)
- Tears Won't Help (1990)
- Conspiracy Of The Heart (1990)
- Kerosene Man EP (1991)
- Drag (1992)
- Tuesday (1992) – promo
- Carelessly (1994)
- Shelley's Blues pt.2 EP (1996) – includes "James River Incident"
- Why (1996) – promo
- The Way You Punish Me (1996) – promo
- How's My Little Girl EP (1997)
- Nothing But The Shell (1999)
- There Will Come A Day (2001)
- Sustain (2001)
- California Style EP (2003)
- Cindy It Was Always You (2005)
- Bruises (2006)
Singles charts
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Modern Rock | US Mainstream Rock | UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|||
| 1990 | "Tears Won't Help" | – | 10 | – | – | Kerosene Man |
External links
- The Official Site of Steve Wynn
- Steve Wynn collection at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's live music archive