Steve Poltz is a Force Of Nature. He’s also a Freak of Nature. Both are meant to be praises of the highest order. He is a singer-songwriter, the guy who discovered Jewel in San Diego when she was 19 and co-wrote her hit song “You Were Meant For Me”. His working style is akin to Robin Williams’ zany approach to stand-up comedy or Hunter S. Thompson’s approach to journalism. Yes, Steve Poltz is a Gonzo singer-songwriter, an extraordinary performer who is not to be missed. There’s so much going on in that mind and so many seemingly random thoughts/images/non-sequiturs coming out of that mouth that it comes off as spontaneous and raw, as if he was making it all up on the spot -- a high-wire act working without a net. But just when Poltz has you seemingly hung out on a limb after one of his twisted tales, he’ll gently reel you back in safely with a poignantly bittersweet gem of a song that’ll melt your heart. Yes, he’s a guitar player. He’s a guitar player with manic, punk energy (he had an indie-rock band called The Rugburns back in the day) but he’s more of a storyteller than a singer-songwriter or a guitar player. He tells the story of how he once he broke his hand before a gig and showed up to tell the club owner that he couldn’t go on because he couldn’t play his guitar and the club owner told him to go out there and tell the people why he couldn’t play for them. Well, Poltz went out there and talked for 45 minutes…. and had the crowd wanting more. That’s Steve Poltz, fully alive, fully in the moment. It’s about time he found his way to High Sierra. Little did we know we’ve been anticipating his arrival all these years.
