Steve Wynn (songwriter)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Steve Wynn (born February 21, 1960) is a songwriter based in New York (born in California). He led the influential band the Dream Syndicate from 1981 to 1989 and afterward began a solo career.

Contents

Before forming the Dream Syndicate, Wynn played guitar in the Davis, California-based band The Suspects, whose members included vocalist Kendra Smith (who later played bass in the Dream Syndicate), Russ Tolman and Gavin Blair (who would form True West); in 1979 they released a single, "It's Up to You" b/w "Talking Loud." Two years later, under the name 15 Minutes, he self-released another single, "Last Chance for You" b/w "That's What You Always Say" (later performed by the Dream Syndicate), which owed much to Joy Division.

Though they were popular with critics, an influence on other musicians, and signed briefly to a major label, The Dream Syndicate were never really commercially successful. They did establish, however, the fan base on which Wynn built his solo career.

Since 1990, Wynn has released a number of albums exploring various musical styles. His first solo album, Kerosene Man, included backing work by bassist Fernando Saunders (a frequent sideman of Lou Reed, to whom Wynn was often compared early in his career), drummer D.J. Bonebrake from the L.A. punk band X, Howe Gelb of Giant Sand and saxophonist Steve Berlin from Los Lobos. Peter Buck, from R.E.M., played on its follow-up, Dazzling Display, and co-wrote the title song. Backing on Melting in the Dark (1996) was provided by the Boston band Come.

Here Come the Miracles (2001) was his best-selling solo album to date, and the best-reviewed, appearing at year's end on numerous critical Top Ten lists.

In 1985, Wynn wrote a collection of songs with Dan Stuart of Green on Red, and recorded and released them as Danny and Dusty. In the '90s he was a part of the indie supergroup Gutterball along with Stephen McCarthy of The Long Ryders Bob Rupe of Silos Cracker and Brian Harvey and Johnny Hott of House of Freaks.

The double CD From a Man of Mysteries: A Steve Wynn Tribute was released by the German label Blue Rose in 2004 and features Wynn's songs performed by the likes of Concrete Blonde, the Silos, Chuck Prophet, The Minus 5 and others.

Wynn is at present more popular in Europe than in the United States. While domestic tours are rare, he continues to perform regularly overseas.

Steve allows the recording and trading of his live concerts and some of the recordings are available from the Live Music Archive at archive.org (see link).

On August 26, 2007 Wynn debuted a new band, Hazel Motes, at Magnetic Fields in Brooklyn, NY. The line-up consists of Steve Wynn, Linda Pitmon, Steve Espinola and NY based band the Teenage Prayers. The band's My Space page describes them as "A whiskey-fueled rock and roll gospel band whose spiritual furor is matched only by it’s self destructive dark side."

  • The Dream Syndicate EP (1982)
  • The Days of Wine and Roses (1982)
  • Medicine Show (1984)
  • This Is Not the New Dream Syndicate Album......Live! (1984)
  • Out of the Grey (1986)
  • Ghost Stories (1988)
  • Live at Raji's (1989)
  • 3 1/2; The Lost Tapes 1985-1988 (1993)
  • The Day Before Wine and Roses (1995)

  • The Lost Weekend (1985)
  • Cast Iron Soul (2007)

  • Kerosene Man (1990)
  • Dazzling Display (1992)
  • Fluorescent (1994)
  • Take Your Flunky and Dangle (1994)
  • Melting in the Dark (1996)
  • Sweetness and Light (1997)
  • Advertisements for Myself (1998)
  • The Suitcase Sessions (1998)
  • My Midnight (1999)
  • Here Come the Miracles (2001)
  • Momento (2000)--w/Australian Blonde
  • The Emusic Singles Collection (2001)
  • Riding Shotgun (2004)
  • What I did after my band broke up (2005)

  • Gutterball (1993)
  • Weasel (1995)
  • Turnyor Hedinkov (1995)

  • Static Transmission (2003)
  • ...tick...tick...tick (2006)
  • Live Tick (2006)

  • Smack Dab (2007)

  • From a Man of Mysteries: A Steve Wynn Tribute (2004)

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock UK
1990 "Tears Won't Help" - #10 - - Kerosene Man

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.