Steve was once compared to an old comfortable
sofa. It ain’t much to look at, but there's just something, well,
comfortable about it.
The comfortable thing about Steve is the
song. It's all about the song. His strength is his writing. He’ll
readily admit he doesn’t sing or play that well, but his singing and
playing kind of works for what he’s doing. It's three chords and his
truth.
Like most creative types, he sees things a little
differently than the 'normal' folks. Some of the things he sees, he can
relate through song. He doesn’t really write them, they come to him,
and he relates them.
His sound can be a bit ‘country flavored’
but not heavy-handed, more along the lines of Americana. As a
songwriter, he’s proud to have had the opportunity to perform twice in
the late 90’s at Nashville’s famed Bluebird Café at their Sunday
Writers’ Night. His songs, ‘Wet Dog (Someone To Care)’ and ‘I’ve Lost
All Faith’ were named Tastes of the Day by eartaste.com in 2007. Both
songs were on CD samplers released by that website. ‘Run Mary,’ from
the CD ‘Long Grass and the Tall Trees’ was named a Taste of the Day by
the website in April 2008.
‘I’ve Lost All Faith’ has also been
included on Neil Young’s Living With War Today Song Page since August
2007 and reached as high as number 7 on the list in April
2008.(http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html)
“Tampa
resident Steve Vaclavik is a troubadour in the tradition of Bob Dylan
and Townes Van Zandt. His songs are full of the truth as seen by
ordinary people. These people often tend to be life's underdogs, and
Steve has the special gift to capture their perspectives on the world
with genuine understanding. His words, full of humor and insight, are
the essence of his music, but his Dylan-esque vocals and spare guitar
playing provide a fitting framework that rings true and clear.” (From
Pro Star Recording press release for their Pro Star Sound Stage
Celebrate the Songwriter Series, December 2007.)
“Following his
gruff, antiwar Internet hit "I've Lost All Faith," which reached No. 11
out of 2,570 selections on Neil Young's "Living with War: Songs of the
Times" website, Tampa folkie Steve Vaclavik releases Long Grass and the
Tall Trees. The eight-song batch of originals, recorded at Pro Star
Recording in St. Pete, features Vaclavik mostly alone with his acoustic
guitar (there's understated percussion interspersed), strumming
familiar chords and singing intriguing tales like the murder report
"Run Mary." The only misstep is the track "Bob Dylan," an imagined
meeting with the rock poet, which, at this point, is about as relevant
as a "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" cover.”
3 stars (Wade Tatangelo, Creative Loafing, Tampa, April 2008.)
“(‘Run
Mary’) A story about Billy and his sister Mary (“Billy sees things none
of us see”). Steve’s sound is augmented by Luis Torres, a sensitive
percussionist who enhances the nuances in this memorable story. I won’t
give away the story, but will let you know the plot that Steve
masterfully weaves into 3 minutes will take 2 hours to display on a
movie screen. The rest of the album serves up a complete meal, with 8
movies to watch in your ears. ‘When The Water Comes Running Cold’
(“I’ve rebuilt before and I’ll rebuild again”) is a song about a flood
that ends with inspired brilliance. ‘Smile With Me’ is a hilarious take
on music fans and the movies they play in their heads while listening
to music. “Listen up people, this song’s for you, you can listen to it
anyway you want to. You can take your shoes off or leave them on. Maybe
even learn the words to this song.” Shoutouts for ‘Speak of Me’
(“everything is gone except for this sad song”) and ‘Long Grass and the
Tall Trees’ (“We all just do the best that we can do to get through”).”
(From eartaste.com, April 2008.)
