(Self Release) Steve Bice was born in Niagara Falls, NY, spent some time in Ohio and now lives in Michigan. His musical influences include Emmylou Harris, Waylon, Willie, Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins. Steve Bice is also on that long list of singer/songwriters who've been turned away by Nashville as being too country for country. The experience so ticked him off that when he released a well received album in 1997 titled The Sin Citizen Sessions: Vol. 1, Original Sins, the centerpiece of that album was a scathing indictment of a song, "Rubber Room." Some of the lyrics that describe what's inside that room- "There's an old wing/ I'm not proud to say/ Our dear departed, those gone away/ Late at night you'll hear their tunes/ In this rubber room/ You'll hear Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb/ Gram Parsons, him we really loved/ Marty Robbins, that guy could sing/ They couldn't fit El Paso now in their Young Country Market-researched Demographically and politically correct thing/ I guess it's alright, it's better than it looks/I could be writing with that damn Garth Brooks/think I'll stay right here, put on some Emmylou/ In this rubber room." Ouch!

Steve returns with his second release, Sixty Minutes Of Sin, which is produced by longtime Tom Russell collaborators Andrew Hardin and Fats Kaplin. The album contains 14 Brice originals and a cover of Jack Clement's "Miller's Cave" that run the gamut of what he calls his "emotional extremes." Pulp Country singer, Kristi Rose (aka/Mrs. Fats Kaplin) contributes her vocals on 3 of the album's tracks.

Sixty Minutes Of Sin revolves around country music's time honored themes of cheating and forbidden desire- which sometimes leads to death ("Sixty Minutes Of Sin," "Twenty Years From Now," "Miller's Cave," "Gold Valley"), drinking ("The Hard Stuff," "I Broke The Bottle"), despair ("Blue Water," "Gone Away"), heartache ("My Blue Dreams," "Colorado"), lives gone astray ("Unknown Destination," "The Father") and the search for redemption ("Til I Found You," "Only You Can Save Me Now"). He tackles the subject matter through a nice mix of well written and strongly performed steel and fiddle driven honky tonkers, shuffles, barroom weepers and soaring countrypolitan tinged ballads.

He describes the album on his website as follows:

"Once upon a time...Country music reflected the emotions and life experiences of mature people. Whether it was love or heartache, disappointment, loss, or facing death, there was a partner-in-spirit in the lyrics of a country song. Here's a complete lyrical study of failed lives and uncertain futures, songs of depression, obsession, desolation, and desperation. Fifty two minutes of music and Sixty Minutes of Sin."

Steve Brice is among the country music performers trying to keep the heart, soul and core of country music from becoming the 'once upon a time' that mainstream Nashville is trying it's damnedest to make happen and both Steve and Sixty Minutes Of Sin are well worth checking out for those who don't believe in current Nashville fairy tales.  

Standout Tracks: "Sixty Minutes Of Sin," "Unknown Destination," "The Hard Stuff," "I Broke The Bottle," "Blue Water," My Blue Dreams"

On The Net: www.stevebice.com

AnnMarie Harrington TakeCountryBack May 2004