Steve's Story

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2022 Highlights: 
Steve & Carolyne played headline gigs to capacity audiences at London's Green Note & Harrison, Saltburn & Staithes in his native Yorkshire and on the Seafront Stage for Lyme Folk Weekend, where they opened for Ranagri in the Marine Theatre,

Highlights in 2019:
Steve's duo opened for Ranagri to a sold-out Slaughtered Lamb in London in March & Steve performed solo alongside Greg Hancock & Alex Seel at the Harrison in May as part of their Songwriter Circle Tour. The duo performed in the Acoustic Marquee at TribFest on August 17th and played four sets over two days at Cornwall Folk Festival  August 24th & 25th.  They performed at Lustleigh Village Show on August 26th and closed Friday's programme on the Seafront Stage at Lyme Folk Weekend on August 30th. 

A successful 2018 tour with Ranagri, playing major venues in Scotland, followed sold-out London solo concerts, closing the summer with performances at Lyme Folk Weekend [including opening for festival headliners Show of Hands].

Hull-born, London resident Steve Dagleish played his first guitar in the late sixties, listening to songsmiths Drake & Dylan and pickers Jansch, Graham & Martyn. By the mid-seventies, he 'could' have earned a BSc [Physics] from Imperial College, London and been halfway through a doctorate at M.I.T. Instead, he had played his first acoustic guitar [hollering Neil Young songs and a few early originals] around the fringe clubs in Kensington & Chelsea for a year, played his first  [disastrous] gig at Roehampton Folk Club, 'dropped out' of academia and into a corporate career. As the latter and a young family took focus, the guitar found itself in storage.

After a thirty year gap between first and second public performances, Steve began writing songs. By 2005, the guitar [with a few other instruments and musical appendages] had reattached itself to Steve. He had attended songwriting workshops with Willy Russell [Blood Brothers] and then Ray Davies, experimented with alternate tunings and recorded a few 'demos' and live gigs. He played solo, duo, full band around London's acoustic circuit and by the close of 2007, Steve had played standout gigs at the Spitz, Troubadour & Water Rats, sold out the Green Note  three times and performed to a packed Bush Hall.

After a five-year gap, a chance visit to the jewel that is Saltburn-by-Sea [and the family home for much of his teens] re-energised Steve. He dropped in to a Monday evening at Saltburn Folk Club in early 2013, was warmly welcomed and encouraged on several subsequent visits. 'Rough' old songs were honed, new ones emerged. Helen Meissner invited him to perform at 'Folkstock' festival in 2013 and the following year saw Steve wrap himself in his home studio, the 'Sponge Room', to record the album 'Only Losers Write on Bridges'. During 2014, Steve played 'live' sessions on Gashouse Radio [Kate Lynn-Devere], Radio Dacorum [Sarah Lowther] and BBC Radio Tees [Bob Fischer]. Tracks from the new album were played on these stations and Lincoln City Radio [Alan Ritson], Bishop FM Folk Show [Rebekah Findlay], Radio Warwickshire's 'The Folk Show' [Tamsin Rosewell] and BBC 6 Music [Tom Robinson].

In 2015, Steve headlined Saltburn Folk Club's February concert following his session at Folk 21's North Yorkshire conference, entertained over a hundred folk at a series of intimate 'House Concerts'. Steve collaborated with respected songwriter and performer Sara Dennis, the duo supporting Cath and Phil Tyler at Eaglescliffe's The Waiting Room, Brigid's Mantle at Saltburn's Spa and Chris Wood at Whitby's La Rosa. He also opened for the popular folk band Ranagri in London and at Saltburn's Earthbeat Centre.

In 2016,  an extensive U.K. Spring tour was followed up in the Summer with performances at Lyme Folk Weekend, Cornwall Folk Festival, Moreton Music Day, Petherton Folk Festival, Wood(bury)stock and several venues around the South-West, often with singer Steve Baldwin of De-Malebysse. A second album of original work, 'Yours for Eternity' written 'on the road' and recorded in his home 'studio', was released at the end of October, following a sold-out London launch at the Winemaker's Club.

Steve toured the new album throughout 2017, encouraged by excellent reviews and a nomination by FolkWords for 'Best Album by a Male Artist'. He opened for Ranagri at Bath's Chapel Arts Centre, London's Slaughtered Lamb, Old Queens Head & Green Note,  Saltburn Community Theatre, Beverley's Parkway Cinema & Scarborough's Woodend Gallery and performed at Lyme Folk Weekend & Cornwall Folk Festival.

 



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