They are still out there walking the boulevards of life. I’m talking about troubadours here. Not the sensitive singer songwriter type either but a bitstream of, for the most part, conventional ideas turned rapidly into songs that seem off the cuff and are yet still complete. The name in the frame this time around is Sterling Witt.
While he’s not as determinedly offbeat as, say, Jonathan Richman, Sterling Witt – an appropriate alias surely? –has got that relentless post punk vibe running through his songs just the same. Not one to over egg the musical pudding, our Mr Witt goes with a minimalist approach with only Allan Winkler’s stick banging presence to keep his company through his musical meanderings. It might not sound too appealing but compared to the computer generated four seasons pizza that the music business seems to think we want, it is a refreshing approach.
Needless there are songs about women – “Perfect Girl” and You’re The One” - but they are curiously unsentimental but remain bursting with warmth nonetheless. Just in case you think that conventionality is the key to the Witt door, a quick right cross with a liberal reinterpretation of “You Are My Sunshine” with glass on it sorts you right out before “Sedona” takes you down the Delbert and Glen route. It’s nearly an epic.
Sterling Witt is born of a different time and a different sign. If you like a straight arrow then you will like him. It’s as simple as that.