In case anyone is confused, Steph Strings and Billy Strings are not related. The 25-year-old from Melbourne, Australia, and the 33-year-old from Lansing, Michigan, USA, may be two of the most technically gifted guitar players on the planet today, but as for the name, it's totally coincidental.
Steph, being younger, is not quite as far along in her career as Billy. But she is rising fast. She brought her stories and her songs, along with her Pratley OM Cutaway acoustic, to DC9, in the heart of the nation’s capital, on Friday night. Through a dozen songs and several extended instrumental workouts, she dazzled the small, packed room for 80 minutes.
It was the final stop on her first headlining tour of North America, and she seemed genuinely surprised that so many Washingtonians had ever heard of her. She was even more surprised to find some wearing her T-shirts.
Steph Strings creates vast landscapes with her acoustic guitar
Steph stepped up onto the stage on the second floor of DC9, playing a free-flowing instrumental comprised of various musical influences. There were threads of “Waltzing Matilda” mixed in, along with other melodies that went over my head.
For the most part, it served as a warm-up and an introduction. She never said a word, but spoke volumes with her music and her smile, which flipped between sly and thousand-watt as the music shifted.
Then, after close to ten minutes, she said hello and asked if the crowd was ready. They were.
Steph chronicled her journey over the past five or six years from physio student and occasional busker to burgeoning international music sensation. After a handful of EPs and singles, she released her first feature-length album – Feel Alive – earlier this year and is right in the middle of an international tour in support of that debut.
“Gratefully,” the lead track from Feel Alive, was the first song with lyrics she performed on Friday. It’s an excellent table setter, showing off her rousing folk while putting her life and career on full display.
She followed it with an “older” tune, from her 2023 EP LION. “Lila” is a quieter number filled with mystery. Steph set up the song by telling the backstory. The song’s opening line, “I met a witch in Mullumbimby – She told me to wear my hand on my heart,” is a true story – or at least true in Steph’s recounting. It was part of the impetus for her to dive in full throttle into her career as a musician.
When she finished the song, a fan thanked her. “Now the song makes sense.” Steph laughed.
She did a Xavier Rudd cover (“Follow the Sun”) before sitting down for a couple of numbers. She wasn’t tired in the least. She needed to sit so that she could play her guitar like a cross between an acoustic lap steel and a drum. With a stomp box pedal at one foot and a tambourine wrapped around the other, she provides her own rhythm section.
Oh, and on some numbers, she tosses in a harmonica.
Her second seated song was the blues stomper “Back at Me.” Steph can lean into pop on songs like “Three Wishes” or create gorgeous, evocative soundscapes as on the instrumental “Wildfire.” But she may be at her best when she dives into those blues numbers.
That was certainly true on “Devil Woman,” from the new album, which she described as her favorite song to play live.
She closed with an older fan favorite, “Lion,” then said she was eager to return to DC. Though she admitted there was a good chance the next time she visits, it might be at a larger venue, she also promised to come back to DC9 – “because of the excellent hummus.”
Former Marine and local DC singer-songwriter Vintz Desert opened the show for Steph with a 40-minute set of lovely acoustic tunes about love, personal growth, and his recently deceased cat. Desert has a beautiful voice and a winning persona that balances out his self-described “melancholy songs.” He tossed in a Black Keys cover (“Lonely Boy”) and multiple whistling solos to liven things up.
The day after her DC show, Steph was scheduled to hop on a plane for Germany to kick off another month in Europe. Later this year, she hits South America. And she will be back in North America for a few festivals this Summer before going out on another tour in support of Jesse Welles.