You don’t need to be using your vocal cords to sing. There are other ways to do it, you don’t even need to be a human being! Birds sing, the wind sings while you’re standing on the beach watching the surf, and maybe you could even say that an air conditioner sings in the background as it cools your room on a hot summer day. Just because something is singing doesn’t mean it has to come from vox humana. In the case of Delicate Steve, it’s his guitar that does the singing, and it’s a distinctive voice that his instrument has.
On his recently released new album Delicate Steve Sings (Anti), Steve Marion takes the voice of his guitar and applies it to mostly an original cadre of songs, however, he throws in a few covers for good measure, some you’ll definitely know, and a few that may be new to you. But no matter what song he’s playing, he’s working hard on this album to make sure that those songs have the unique singing voice that his guitar has exhibited over the last eight albums that he’s released.
On this episode, we of course talk about his new record, and about how some critics may have misunderstood what he was trying to do on this album, but how it only goes to prove to himself that he’s on the right track. Do you know what your voice sounds like? You don’t have to use your vocal cords, or a guitar. What is it that you use when you really sing?
Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.