Acclaimed South African singer-songwriter Steve Louw returns with a powerful new single, “Across The River,” offering listeners a deeply evocative preview of his forthcoming album, Traces of the Flood, set for release on May 15, 2026.
Released Friday, April 10, the new single is available on all streaming platforms HERE. Watch the music video on YouTube HERE. Pre-order the new album HERE.
“Across The River” is a slow-burning, emotionally resonant track that blends Louw’s signature storytelling with stripped-back instrumentation and atmospheric depth. The song explores themes of longing, separation, and transcendence, anchored by imagery that is both intimate and expansive.
With its recurring motif of crossing over, physical, emotional, and perhaps even spiritual, the single captures a sense of inevitability and enduring connection.
Driven by poetic lyricism, the track unfolds like a quiet reckoning. Lines such as “These four walls all I see / And I think of you” and “We’ll meet across the riverside” suggest both confinement and hope, while the refrain, “I’ll be with you, my love,” lingers as a promise that transcends circumstance. The narrative is deeply personal yet universally accessible, allowing listeners to project their own interpretations onto its layered meaning.
Musically, “Across The River” leans into a minimalist arrangement, allowing Louw’s voice and lyrics to take centre stage. Subtle textures and a measured pace create a sense of tension and release, mirroring the emotional arc of the song itself. The result is a track that feels timeless, rooted in classic songwriting traditions while remaining distinctly contemporary.
The single serves as a compelling introduction to Traces of the Flood, an album that promises to further explore themes of memory, resilience, and the passage of time. While full details of the album remain under wraps, “Across The River” hints at a body of work that is both reflective and sonically rich, marking a significant chapter in Louw’s ongoing artistic evolution.
Speaking about the release, Louw notes that the song emerged from a place of introspection: a meditation on connection in moments of uncertainty, and the enduring pull of love across distance and adversity.
Cut live in the studio with a full-tilt, rocking band, “Across the River” delivers a high-octane cry out to the ghosts that haunt us, to lost love, and to redemption. We all carry spirits with us, converse with them and wait to meet them all again, “Across the River”.
With “Across The River,” Steve Louw once again demonstrates his ability to craft music that resonates on a deeply human level, understated yet profound, intimate yet far-reaching.
“Across The River” is available now on all major streaming platforms. Traces of the Flood will be released on 15 May 2026.
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 May2026, 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.
Legendary South African blues rock, roots, Americana, rock guitarist and singer songwriter, Steve Louw released his new double album Between Time on Friday September 6th.
To coincide with today’s release of Between Time, Louw has released “Cruel Hand of Fate” featuring Joe Bonamassa; the fourth single taken from the new album.
Watch the official music video “Cruel Hand of Fate” via YouTube HERE.
“Before highways and cars people travelled by foot, horse and then train if you could afford it, or of you could jump on board,” says Louw about the new single “Cruel Hand of Fate.”
Continues Louw, “Trains have a mystery to them, their rhythm coming from way off and then fading into the future. As a kid I used to put coins on the train tracks and feel the warm squashed coin in my hand as the train clacked away.”
“The song is about a traveling musician who feels that his time is running out. He needs to jump a ride to see his love one last time. The song has the rhythm of the train tracks and a nod to the journey we are all on.”
Joe Bonamassa plays a beautiful country style solo which fits right in with the mystery behind “Cruel Hand of Fate.” Using a Fender Telecaster B Bender guitar, an invention which by moving the guitar’s bridge conjures a pedal steel effect, creates a counterpoint to the song’s brooding slide guitar.
“Steve Louw and I have been making records for many years now. When I introduced him to Joe Bonamassa in Vienna more than a decade ago, they got along very well. When Steve had the opportunity to invite Joe to play on his records, Joe was enamoured with Steve’s style and was happy to be a part of it. I think Joe has now played on three or four of Steve’s albums, and it’s always a thrill for us all. It’s a meeting of minds.”– Producer, Kevin Shirley
“Between Time came out wonderfully. I truly love the album.” – 14 x Grammy Award winning mastering engineer – Bob Ludwig
Louw’s new album, Between Time, arrives decades into a long career, stretching back to the 1990s, when Louw partnered with South African record producer Kevin Shirleywhile 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.
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 maestro Lachy Doley, 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.
Between Time – 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)
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.
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.
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)
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.
Legendary South African blues rock, country, and Americana singer-songwriter and guitarist, Steve Louw’s highly anticipated third solo album Between Time will be released Friday September 6th.
Released as a 2-CD digipack, double vinyl, and digital, the double album is available to pre-order and pre-save from https://orcd.co/SteveLouwBetweenTime.
“Giants Walk The Land” (co-written and feat. Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie) is the first single from South African roots rocker Steve Louw’s new album Between Time.
“Two great songwriters and musicians blend inspiration and craft into something mystical,” says producer Kevin Shirley(John Hiatt, the Black Crowes).
Released Friday June 7th, “Giants Walk The Land” is available on all streaming platforms HERE. Watch the official music video for “Giants Walk The Land” on YouTube 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 Dreamsreceived 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, Louw 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 maestro Lachy Doley, 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) StreeJanes 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)
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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