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Photo by Jacqui van Standen

Legendary South African blues rock, country, and Americana singer-songwriter and guitarist, Steve Louw releases “Killers”/“Streets of Rain” double single on Friday 12 July 2024.

The songs are available to stream from https://orcd.co/SteveLouwKillersStreetsofrain.

Both songs are taken from Louw’s highly anticipated third solo album Between Time released by BFD Records on Friday September 6th.

Released as a 2-CD digipack, double vinyl, and digital, the highly anticipated double album is available to pre-order and pre-save from https://orcd.co/SteveLouwBetweenTime.

“Killers” reflects the madness of waging war on each other. The song was written after hearing an audio clip of intercepted radio chatter in the first few weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the intense guitar-driven track’s energy evokes feelings of helplessness and rage.

“I wanted the song to feel spiritual, powerful, and cutting and exist on different time planes,” says Louw. “When we recorded Killers, it felt like we were stepping across into an earlier flickering time.” Doug Lancio’s overdriven Harmony Rocket guitar locks with Steve’s acoustic and Rob McNelley’s soulful slide guitar to create a powerful sonic statement of rage and grief.

“The sound of this track is what I love about making records,” says producer Kevin Shirley. “World class musicians together, creating art. Capturing those moments and being part of that experience never grows old.”

“Killers” is available on all streaming platforms HERE. Watch the official music video HERE.

The evocative Hammond organ playing of B3 wizard Lachy Doley and the chorused electric guitar and acoustic teases out the melancholy of “Streets of Rain.” “It’s a song about loss,” says Louw. “Although our pain is personal, you are not alone. When it’s coming down on you, it feels like you’ll never get out of there, but you will.”

“Lachy is one of the greatest Hammond players in the world, right up there with Steve Winwood and Booker T,” says Kevin Shirley. “When I was finishing off Streets of Rain, I knew his playing would be perfect. His beautiful solo captures the essence of the song.”

“Streets of Rain” is available on all streaming platforms HERE. Watch the music video HERE.

Between Time, arrives decades into a long career, stretching back to the 1990s, when Louw partnered with South African record producer Kevin Shirley while fronting Big Sky, his vehicle to acclaim in his native South Africa. Louw broke back into the music scene rousingly with his 2021 solo album Headlight Dreams, which Shirley helped push into existence, telling Louw after a decade of silence that it was time for him to make another record. He assembled a crack band, including keyboardist Kevin McKendree (John Hiatt), drummer Greg Morrow (Billy Gibbons), bass player Alison Prestwood (Buddy Miller), guitarists Rob McNelley (Hank Williams Jr), and Doug Lancio (Bob Dylan).

Headlight Dreams received solid reviews and earned him his third South African Music Award nomination. Thunder and Rain followed hot on its heels, a rich and natural album of muscular folk and insistent rock, a blend that Louw has refined throughout his career.

With Between Time, he explores those moments that fall outside the strict constructs of time with songs that have past, present, and future, while using imagery that’s both timeless and present. Cut live in the studio with his same band; the music has a transcendent quality, a chemistry that blends craft and inspiration into something mystical.

The stars align on three songs recorded back-to-back on the same day. The heartfelt “Killers”, where ‘Killers with numbers not names, came killing across the plains’, flows into, ‘In the Badlands, sand turned to dust, outsiders stand, steel turned to rust’, on the driving “Giants Walk The Land” (co-written with Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie), and to a new beginning on “Time to Get On,” ‘As we face to the sun, it’s time to get on’.

Hearing the band discover the inherent passion and tenderness within the songs is part of the pleasure of Between Time. Their chemistry is evident on the low-down shuffle of “Do Me Good” and the country honk of “Alibi.” They swing hard on “Get Real Gone” and ratchet up the tension on “Flowers on The Graves of Doves,” a ringing, roiling number that conjures the mystery of early R.E.M.

You feel the band as much as you hear them, as on “Highway to the Sun,” the eight-minute exit to the 20-song collection. Louw is as much a member of the band as he is its leader. His steady, propulsive guitar playing providing as much of a connective tissue as his unguarded voice.

Collaborative energy is a crucial element of Between Time, extending to guest appearances by Joe Bonamassa, who accentuates the Blues on “Cruel Hand of Fate” with an explosive country-style solo. Added to that is Jim Moginie, whose eclectic guitar sound and creative force evoke the natural world’s power on “Giants Walk The Land,” and Hammond maestroLachyDoley, who teases out the reassuring comfort lurking within “Streets of Rain.”

Between Time is a record filled with compassion and heart, a defining album for an artist who has consistently delivered great-sounding music over several decades.

Track Listing

CD1
Alibi (4:07)
We Had It All (3:37)
Beggar Tonight (4:40)
Giant’s Walk The Land (4:45)
Killers (4:40)
StreetJanes Dream#3 (5:24)
Do Me Good (4:06)
Flowers From The Graves Of Doves (4:07)
Don’t Leave A Heart Alone (3:22)
Time To Get On (5:38)

CD2
Get Real Gone (3:33)
The Way Your Heart Beats (2:05)
Take Me For A Ride (3:56)
Streets Of Rain (4:07)
Cruel Hand Of Fate (5:19)
Free To Fly (2:10)
You ‘n Me Tonight (3:08)
Cold Cold Rails (3:45)
Ever Be Undone (4:44)
Highway To The Sun (7:59)

Album Credits
Produced by Kevin Shirley.
Recorded and mixed at Ocean Way Studios, Nashville, TN
Tracks 4,14 and 18 mixed at The Cave, Sydney.
Engineered by Austin Atwood
Mixed by Kevin Shirley
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering, Portland, ME.

Musicians
Steve Louw: Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Doug Lancio: Electric Guitar and Mandolin
Kevin McKendree: Keyboards
Alison Prestwood: Bass
Greg Morrow: Drums and Percussion

Additional Musicians
Jim Moginie: Electric guitar, keyboards (Track 4)
Joe Bonamassa: Lead Electric Guitar (Track 15)
Randy Flowers: Electric Guitar (Tracks 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 19, 20)
Rob McNelley: Electric Guitar (Tracks 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16)
Lachy Doley: Hammond Organ (Track 14)

Backing Vocalists
Kim Fleming: Backing Vocals (Tracks 2, 13, 16)
Devonne Fowlkes: Backing Vocals (Tracks 2, 13, 16)
Jade MacRae: Backing Vocals (Track 17)
Danielle DeAndrea: Backing Vocals (Track 17)

Steve Louw – Biography
Steve Louw (born 16 September 1955) is a South African musician and singer-songwriter who specialises in album rock, blues rock, country rock and Americana music. He was born in The Hague and has been active as a musician since 1981. He was inducted in the South African Rock Hall of Fame in 2003.

Louw, who was born Stephen Geoffrey Louw, learnt to play the guitar after being inspired by the music of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Neil Young, and formed his first band, Atlantic Rose, while in high school in Cape Town in the late 1960s. While a student at Stellenbosch University in the 1970s he became involved in the local music scene, playing his own songs in various line-ups.

His career as a professional musician began in the early 1980s when he formed the band All Night Radio with fellow former Stellenbosch University students Nico Burger (guitar) and Rob Nagel (bass). The group recorded two albums – The Heart’s the Best Part (1984) with US producer John Rollo, and The Killing Floor (1986), on which Louw began a partnership with producer Kevin Shirley that continues to this day.

Louw then formed the band Big Sky and in 1990 released their debut album, Waiting for the Dawn, again produced by Shirley. The album arrived just as South Africa began moving away from apartheid rule and the group’s music helped soundtrack a decade of positive revolution. The title track is today considered a South African rock classic. Big Sky released another five albums over the next 15 years: Horizon (1995), Going Down with Mr Green (1997), Best of the Decade (1999), Beyond the Blue (2002) and Trancas Canyon (2008); as well as the concert DVD Heart and Soul, filmed at Cape Town’s Little Theatre in 2008.

Louw and Big Sky achieved considerable success in South Africa with sell-out tours and several major radio hits including “Kathleen”, “Mr Green”, “One Cut With A Knife”, “Strange Room” and “Diamonds and Dirt”. In 1996 the band won the FNB South African Music Award for “Best Pop Music Performance” and “Best Rock Album” for the album Horizon.

In 1998 Big Sky opened for US singer-songwriter Rodriguez on his triumphant debut tour of South Africa, with the musicians in the band also backing the US artist. The tour is chronicled in the 2012 Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man.

Louw gained an international profile after he collaborated with Brian May (Queen) and Dave Stewart (the Eurythmics) on the track “Amandla”, recorded for the 46664 Aids awareness project inspired by the work of Nelson Mandela.

In 2021 Louw returned with the album Headlight Dreams, produced by Shirley, and recorded in Nashville with crack studio musicians and featuring a guest appearance by US guitar legend Joe Bonamassa. The album has received critical acclaim and the first single, “Wind in Your Hair”, has become a popular Spotify hit.

Louw released his sophomore solo release Thunder and Rain on November 11, 2022, through BFD. The album was produced by Kevin Shirley and features Joe Bonamassa and Doug Lancio.

On September 6th, Louw will release his third solo album Between Time, produced by Kevin Shirley. 

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