Corrina Steel, like most of us mere mortals, is perhaps best described as a complex study in contradictions. A ‘Femme Fatale’ with a penchant for 7 inch stilettos and country cut glamour; she’s also straightforward and straight-shooting. On one hand, she’s been described as a ‘man’s woman’, on the other discount her fierce sense of sisterhood at your own peril. Fun, feisty and confident but complete with a very different B side; she can be introverted, vulnerable and riddled with self-doubt. She’s a complicated woman alright; but you had better add the words ‘damn talented’ for good measure.
Steel’s third album, ‘Fling with the King’, superbly illustrates the conflict and ambiguity inherent not just in herself, but in all of us. The album is also a salute to the ups and downs of womanhood, and a reminder that Steel is most definitely not a needy “Stand By Your Man” type of woman – she tells her life as it is; through whimsical observations and candid self analysis, glimpses of vanity, troughs of despair, all laced with a cynical throwaway sense of self-deprecating humour.
In her 10 year career as a country singer songwriter, Steel has emerged as a quiet achiever and a consistent fixture on the Australian musical landscape. Her second album; the acclaimed Blues is a Good Woman Gone Bad sold over 4000 copies in Australia alone, scoring critical acclaim along the way. While her previous albums waltzed it about with country-rock ballads and blue notes, ‘Fling with the King’ takes the bull firmly by the horns, and steers the musical trajectory off the well-trod predictable country road and deep into the murky blue woods.
“With each album, I really start from scratch with the approach to the songs – almost like it’s my first ever album, because I don’t want to repeat myself too much” says Steel. “I’m not trying to be a blues or country purist – I like having a freshness and new direction with every album and hope people who have enjoyed my past albums will appreciate the pushing of genre boundaries”.
Steel has never been one to listen to top 40 charts or study at any fancy musical institute. She has always gone straight to the source; her experiences as an uncertain lover, a devoted daughter, a friend and confidant are brought to life and amplified by a palette of sounds born of Mississippi juke joints, Honky Tonk Bars and long solo road trips through the vacant Australian landscape.
During her travels to the birthplace or roots music, the deep south of America, Steel forged an education in blues and soul in its most organic, pure heartfelt form. Impromptu tin shed moonshine jams with pawn shop guitars provided the soundtrack to a life of generational poverty, racial prejudice, guns and crack. She was taught slide guitar by none other than Kenny Brown (RL Burnside’s slide guitarist for 26 years), an experience that would leave an indelible impression on her development as a musician.
Steel penned Fling with the King’ on a NSW cattle farm, using a slide guitar that Brown sent her over from Mississippi. She recorded the 10 tracks in 4 days in a wooden shack on the banks of the Hawkesbury River in Spencer NSW. Taking the reigns as producer for the first time and recording with Boxcar Adam Pringle on guitars and Angus Diggs on drums resulted in a combination that defied any need for high profile session ring-ins. The result is a pure, honest sounding ‘beer and porch’ album; a Sunday morning soundtrack with a driving Saturday night hangover.
“Recording with friends works for me because it’s relaxing, you kind of turn the studio into a lounge room. I prefer to work with people who I don’t have to give instructions to, I like them to bring their own sound and vibe that I know will fit well with the songs” says Steel. “I wanted the album to be very stripped back and soulful, but with a gritty and dirty edge.”
The tracks ‘Capitalist System’ and ..No Praises’ (which features jazz/ soul singer Tina Harrod on backing vocals) both have an infectious hip swinging beat with a dirty riff and gospel chorus, ripe for any highway.
‘Woman,’ is a slow burning, primal right of reply to Muddy Water’s ‘Mannish Boy’, a song that always bothered her. Her reaction to ‘I’m a Man’ is simply ‘Yeah, so? And I’m a woman! More cinematic tracks on the album include ‘See Me Now’, with its Velvet Underground downstroke and Twin Peaks tremolo, and the hypnotic ‘Cowboy’, written about Steel’s late friend, the nomadic Ian Rilen.
Steel also took to playing the slide guitar for the first time on the recording of ‘Cowboy’ and the title track ‘Fling with The King’. “The boys were laughing at me in the studio, saying that my slide playing sounded like an 83 year old black man” says Steel. “I wanted Fling with The King to sound like one all consuming, churning force – I had been listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin the week, when I wrote that” she laughs.
“Making Fling with King has extended me out of my comfort zone. Not having the luxury of a huge budget, means you land up doing everything yourself – and I mean everything. Without blowing my own trumpet, you do really end up being the writer, the singer, the player, the producer, the cook, the driver, the roadie . . . and the list goes on!” says Steel “But I mustn’t whinge because I’m also aware that this pushes you to learn from every aspect of making an album – as Rilen used to say: ‘Art must be number one’. But the upside is I now feel confident to produce an album for someone else. Having a huge budget from the start I probably would have only ever remained a singer and songwriter”.
Album out early November, 2009
What the Critics Have Said About
Corrina Steel
“ … arguably the most important left-field country music talent to emerge in this country since Kasey Chambers”
—BRUCE ELDER, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
“ … there’s a lot of living in Steel’s achingly soulful voice. The quality never wavers … ”
—NOEL MENGEL, THE COURIER MAIL
“ … top notch, with a full, round and effortless voice.”
—JEFF GLORFIELD, THE AGE
“A powerful voice that recalls the golden age of 70s swamp/gospel/country/soul”
—MUSIC AUSTRALIA GUIDE
“The blues inflected country has touches of Bonnie Raitt and a pre-rhinestone Dolly Parton. Steel is confidently stepping into the territory of her heroes such as John Prine.”
—BERNARD ZUEL, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
“Reminiscent of early Linda Ronstadt ... the observations of a woman who walks her own line”
—DENISE TORENBEEK, COUNTRY UPDATE
Hi Corrina, you were beautiful at the Raval room last night..Jo suggested I come and I'm glad I did. Have an excellent tour- you've got a great band! Elizabeth xo
Hi Corrina!One-Off Show with a Horn Section, Backing Singers & Special Guests. With Support from Jamie Hutchings & His Imaginary Choir, The Disbelievers & Kirin J Callinan. This Thursday!!!
Hey……… Thanks for being our friend over the years…... We're about to release in a few weeks our new 5th CD….”SIGNS” Have a preview listen and a look at our new myspace face lift for the promo for it..... The Streamliners sending you some good vibes for 2009.
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