Steve Hung is the latest addition to Baltimore's music scene, with his recent transition from Austin, TX, dubbed "The Live Music Capital of the World." He got his start at age 18, playing open mic at the legendary folk venue Cactus Café (Janis Joplin, Abra More, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen), soaking up the various sounds of Americana that permeate the Austin music scene. Steve quickly gained a reputation as "a killer guitar player" and "a Cactus favorite."
Like other Texas musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and ZZ Top, Steve fuses blues riffs and licks into his guitar playing as well as playing folk and other forms of Americana music. However, over the years, Steve has broadened his musical vocabulary to incorporate Chet Atkins-style guitarwork, Jazz chordal flavoring, and the sensitivity of Spanish/Classical guitar, something he picked up recently while living in Baltimore.
Steve's debut album, Geetar (July 2008) showcases the Texas musical influences he grew up with, featuring everything from gritty groovy blues, wailing harmonica shuffles, ornamented folk finger-playing, to screeching slide guitars. His most recent album Guitar Gumbo (2013) testifies to his ever-evolving guitar playing. Although firmly rooted in the blues, this album is a “gumbo” of various musical styles, ranging from Country, Folk, to Jazz. Traces of Chet Atkins, Johnny A, Joe Pass, and Stevie Ray Vaughan can be heard in his playing.
