Steve Poltz wants to tell you a story
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. To listen to an audio clip of Steve Poltz, click here.
His songs have stories to tell
Singer-writer Steve Poltz bringing his quirky blend to city storytelling festival
From trick-or-treating at Liberace’s house to meeting Elvis, singer-songwriter Steve Poltz recalls some of the colorful moments of his early years in “Brief History of My Life,” one of the songs on his new album, “Traveling.” “I just one day picked up my guitar, and that song was just floating around in the air. And I started strumming my guitar and remember I said, ‘We first moved to the USA all the way from Canada / We drove across the continent from Nova Scotia to Pasadena.’ And the next thing I knew I was writing this … like sort of a way of letting people know who I am,” he said in a recent phone interview from the clown-theme Pancake Circus restaurant in Sacramento, Calif.
“Sometimes, songs are destined to become like an instant live classic where it works right away and you know you’re going to do that song every night. And those are gifts when you get a song like that.”
Poltz, who will turn 48 Tuesday, often brings his blend of quirky humor, diverse songs and intriguing stories to the Blue Door, where he will play at 8 p.m. Sunday. But he also is coming to Oklahoma City as one of the featured performers at the WinterTales Storytelling Festival at Stage Center, 400 W Sheridan.
Presented by the Arts Council of Oklahoma City, WinterTales runs today through Sunday and includes performances, workshops and a family matinee. Nationally acclaimed storytellers Syd Lieberman, Nancy Donoval and Dovie Thomason are other headliners.
Poltz has played a variety of venues worldwide, first with his indie rock band The Rugburns and for the past decade as a solo artist. He uses storytelling to connect with his audience.
“Whenever you have songs, there’s usually a story behind them. And so, since I’m always on the road playing, it seemed my stories always led into songs,” he said.
“And then I realized the story had to be exciting, because I like to think of the audience and myself as having a piece of string between us, and I don’t want that string to sag too much. So, I wanted to keep their interest. So, when I started playing, if I wanted people to listen to the song, I knew I had to have a good story behind the song.”
As one of the featured tellers at WinterTales, Poltz will participate in group performances with inspirational, humorous and family-friendly themes. Some of the songs he will perform at Sunday’s family matinee come from his children’s album “The Barn,” a musical yarn about a talking dirt bike that befriends a lonely boy.
