Steve Louw’s 2026 album, Traces of the Flood, is a ten-track sonic adventure where each track etches into your aural subconscious, delivering some of the South African singer songwriter and guitarist’s most confident work to date. Released Friday 15 May 2026, the album and is available to pre-order HERE.
The first single from the album is entitled “Time To Move” and is released Friday 27 February 2026 and is available to stream HERE. Watch the official “Time To Move” music video HERE.
After a 13-year hiatus from fronting the band, Big Sky, Steve Louw returned to recording with Headlight Dreams, the first of what followed – 2022’s Thunder & Rain, 2024’s Between Time, and now his fourth solo album release within five years, Traces of the Flood.
Having retained his collaboration with career-long friend and critically acclaimed producer Kevin Shirley (Joe Bonamassa, Black Country Communion, Beth Hart, Joanne Show Taylor), Traces of the Flood celebrates his rich contribution and commitment to Steve’s talent. The musicians that appear on the past four records, from Headlight Dreams to Traces of the Flood, are a band in every sense.
Regarding the players for this album, Steve spotted a kindred spirit he wanted to be a part of in realising Traces of the Flood’s true potential. “I’d seen Bob Britt play with Doug Lancio at a Dylan show in Memphis, and I wanted to have those two guitar players in the band for this record,” he says.
“Kevin liked the old RCA studio in Nashville, having worked there before with Joanne Shaw Taylor,” Steve adds. “It’s quite a funky space. It’s got a lovely vibe. It’s a big room, and all this gear, amps, you name it, are there, so the place has music in its walls.”
“We walked in on day one, plugged in and played.”
Arriving at the studio with “18 songs that were in shape,” Steve recalls, and as is true of the past three album recordings, everyone set to work. Armed with a mix of songs written more recently and a balance of older work, only ten made the cut during the Traces of the Flood sessions.
With absolutely no agenda as to which way this record was going to realise itself, Steve explains his approach, “Train Don’t Run” (From 2021’s Headlight Dreams) and “Traces of the Flood” are like brothers. Still, you would not know that unless I told you, and they were written simultaneously in 2019, so “Traces of the Flood’s’” time only revealed itself in the making of this album.
On “Echo Dream”, “we cut that track with three acoustic guitars,” Steve recalls. “Me, Bob and Doug, and while we were doing that, Greg Morrow did a few drum parts, and that was it. Then, Bob added an electric guitar part, and it was complete.”
Another standout track on Traces of the Flood is “Time to Move”. “The band felt it; I didn’t think I’d do that song if only because I thought it wasn’t ready, but when we started playing it, we fell right into the song’s groove. It was the second last song we played, and after three days of jamming in the studio the song became effortless.”
“All I had was the riff. I knew it needed that 12-string
sound and that beat. We got it right away.”
A track like “CBGB Xmas” came to life in a single, recorded take. “We only had 10 minutes of studio time left to play, so we just knocked it out. You hear how we caught it in one loose jam.”
“This album, sonically, is the sound of a band in full flight.”
Each album Steve has committed to tape and launched into popular culture has landed through raw talent, chance meetings and serendipity, coupled with sheer bloody-mindedness to have it realised and appreciated by the world. Traces of the Flood stands as further proof of that commitment.
Energy, urgency and a room filled with players committed to the process; Traces of the Flood is yet another defining chapter for Steve Louw on a road well-travelled.
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 Kevin 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 Kevin Shirley, and recorded in Nashville with crack studio musicians and featuring a guest appearance by US guitar legend Joe Bonamassa. The album 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 6 September 2024, Louw released his third solo album Between Time, produced by Kevin Shirley.
On 15 May 2026, Louw will release his fourth solo album Traces of the Flood, produced by Kevin Shirley.
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