Stevie Ann

[DazedOblivion]

Stevie Ann

Those of you who follow me at Twitter know that I am paying attention to the music coming out of Holland. I find that, in many ways, the musicians there continue to embrace the traditions and influences of pop/rock that seem to have disappeared in America. There is a nice fusion of pop, folk, country, and soul, whereas here in the States, pop music is more deeply divided between rap/"urban" and country/country pop. To me, it's a crime that these very talented artists who sing their songs in the English language, never seem to get a fair chance and have their music apparently trapped within the confines of the Netherlands. So I like to try to spread the word.

Stevie Ann (real name Anna Stéphanie Struijk) is a 24 year old singer/songwriter from Holland, whose music I'm happy to have discovered. She writes well, plays well and sings well. I first found out about Stevie Ann a little over a year ago when she sang a duet with another Dutch artist, Bertolf, whose music I was exploring. In June this year, I was pleasantly surprised to see this TWEET from Stevie announcing a performance here in California at the Hotel Cafe on 8 August 2010. I went to that concert a week ago. She was phenomenal. I had a chance to talk to her after the concert and she's very nice, too.

Stevie Ann's most recent album Light Up (which I received as a gift for my birthday from a good friend in Holland) was produced by Mitchell Froom, a name well-known to Corrs fans for his work with them on several albums. It was her idea to work with Froom in Santa Monica. She says, "He was number one on my list. A lot of my favourite records were produced by him. My management made contact with his management. Mitchell heard a few songs on my MySpace and then invited me for a visit to see if it clicked. That was very exciting, of course". Froom is quoted as saying, "She blew me off my feet, my God what a talent!"


Recording Light Up with Mitchell Froom in Southern California

She was brilliant in the gig I saw. She played about a 50-minute set that included two new songs, "Only One Heart" and (I think) "Winner of Us", which she played at the piano. She really wowed the audience with sultry take of her early song "Daybreak." She also sang covers of "Times Like These" (Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters) and "May You Never" by the late John Martyn. It was brilliant.

She opened with the title track, "Light Up"...


And she closed with her song "On My Mind":


At the age of about 19, Stevie had a hit in Holland with her song called "The Poetry Man":


She earned the praise of Brian May himself when he saw this YouTube of Stevie performing the Queen tune "One Year of Love":


Another live performance of her song "Changes" from a radio show - she manages to sing wonderfully even while her headphones very nearly fall off!



Some of the more "polished" music videos:

"Get Away" (from the album Closer to the Heart):


"What Goes On" (from the latest album):





Stevie Ann and another Dutch music hero of mine, Bertolf, exchanging albums earlier this year.