Liza Mitchell
Eric Steckel
Eric Steckel first blessed the Springing the Blues stage many moons ago. The blues phenom has experienced tremendous growth, both physically and stylistically since then. With his long rock locks and swarthy stubble, Steckel bears little resemblance to the artist he was in 2002, when he was still a lanky middle schooler with the talent and grit of men twice his age.
“Eric Steckel was 11 years old the first time he played our stage,” says STB promoter and music ninja Terry Dixon. “He’s finally old enough now that I can buy him a cocktail when he gets off stage. He is sensational and is just going to light it up.”
Steckel returns to the 24th annual George’s Music Springing the Blues Festival April 6 in Jacksonville Beach. It is a homecoming of sort for Steckel, who is now 23 and eager to show his fans what he’s been up to since they last saw him. For starters, his new EP The California Sessions just dropped last month, and he is brimming with excitement over a new European venture that promises to punch a hole in mainstream music with his new aggressive chops. He has released four albums, performed in over 20 countries for up to 30,000 people and carved a place for himself on the international blues festival circuit. “There has been a lot of growth. I’m not the traditional blues artist that I was then. I’ve gotten heavier with the blues and have a more youthful approach that is more aggressive and bringing in younger fans,” he says.
The road to success was paved with some sacrifices along the way for the young boy from Philly. His family relocated to Jacksonville when his father was transferred for work. Steckel says the move was “a huge culture-shock for me” because it forced him out of the box with his playing. “Blues was a really big part of the culture in Philadelphia, but it was an indoor culture because the weather sucks,” he says. “When I was coming up, I had a gift and a talent, but there wasn’t really a business side to it. I played because I loved to play, but there wasn’t really any money, and my dad was my manager. Back then, it was a big sacrifice because I didn’t have the personal life that I wanted,” he says. “My friends didn’t understand the kind of music I was playing, and I missed out on a lot of my childhood.”
He enrolled in school and began to seek out venues that were willing to accommodate an artist of his tender age. It wasn’t long before he came to the attention of STB founder Sam Veal who urged Steckel to join his lineup of blues artists. “Sam Veal said, ‘Hey, I want you to play. Come do it.’ So we did it, and we sold 166 records and still hold the record for the number of records sold at the festival,” he says. “It was a huge success.”
Dixon, who now books the acts for STB, reached out to Steckel about returning to the festival while he was in Amsterdam. “He said ‘hey man, we want you back. It’s been too long’. He said they wanted some young blood to reach out to a wider fan base and I said ‘absolutely, count me in. I’ll be there’.”
While Steckel is always grateful to be performing stateside, he relishes his European dates because the experience is an entirely different animal. In the States, there is no middle ground between the club and festival circuit or playing in front of thousands in an arena setting. Overseas, Steckel performs in venues that hold around 1,000 people with an elevated stage and all the bells and whistles of an arena show while still maintaining the intimacy of a smaller club. These type of venues are often subsidized by the various countries as a way to expand the cultural horizons of the residents with American artists.
It was during a performance last year in the Netherlands that Steckel caught the attention of yet another music promoter who offered him the chance to play his vintage 1969 Gibson Les Paul. “It was like the Holy Grail of guitars,” Steckel says. “I played the hell out of that guitar for the whole show.” That performance earned Steckel an invitation to the renowned Wisseloorde Studios in Hilversun, Netherlands, to record in the same sacred space as U2, Tina Turner, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Elton John. “This will be my first big break out of the blues world. This will be a mainstream radio deal,” he says. “It is happening in the Fall of this year so it is very exciting for me and everyone on my team.”
Today, Steckel is counting his blessings. He is living the LA life and enjoying his hard-earned financial and creative freedom. And whatever happens next, he is more than ready. Steckel says, “I feel like now I am finally able to get all of the things that I didn’t have growing up. I am still true to myself and playing the music that I love, so it’s kind of worked out. I’m very lucky.”
Follow FOLIO!