Plug It In And Play-CD
"When it comes to narrative-focused country songwriters, few regions can match up to the Lone Star State. Add Steve Bedunah to the list of talented Texans with the ability to spin rugged and robust stories with almost literary flair. Plug It In and Play, his second album, details the desperate and down-and-out, the out of touch and out of time, the proud and the not yet defeated. "If I want a taste of good whiskey," offers the character in "Down The Drain", "I'll tear the drain pipe from beneath the sink." Meanwhile, the technophobic protagonist of "Down To This River" says he wants to e-mail them all to go to hell." The penultimate track,"Reunion", tells a disturbing tale of a mountain man whose aim is truer than an angel's halo" and who has a basement "full of dry goods and booby trape wire." On a lighter note, the rave-up title track is barroom blues at its best. Bedunah's low-key vocals are not especially distinctive, but his finally crafted songs are."
Andy Turner/No Depression (Mar 1, 2007)
"Fort Worth-born Steve Bedunah's writing has been compared to James McMurtry, but stylistically he rides somewhere between Townes Van Zandt's monotone and Kris Kristofferson's gravelly vocals. Plug It in and Play isn't his first recording, but it's the one that should bring him the right audience. Bedunah's knack for wry lyrics suits the grit in his limited vocals, and it's clear that the eye he casts the modern world is as acerbic as his tongue. "Wireless networks and DSL, I want to e-mail them all to go to hell," proclaims "Down to This River," pitting rustic roots against technology. Bedunah is the heartbroken lover in "Down the Drain," while on the title track he's the faithless lover in love with playing guitar: "Some things are scared, some things are holy. Like a twangin' Telecaster, then there's matrimony."
Margaret Moser/ Austin Chronicle (April 19, 2007)
"As we all know, everything is BIG in Texas. Why wouldn't you expect the best in Roots-Country to be a big success? Steve Bedunah is receiving a lot of positive attention, and it is little wonder. His graven voice seems to shoulder the burden of the world. His songs are musical literature--he is a great storyteller and uses this ability to make his twangy Country downright infectious. This album and Steve have a lot to offer, whether it be foot stomping bluegrass or inspirational Traditional Country, or the Whiskey Blues."
John Shelton Ivany/ Top 21 (Mar 9, 2007)
"Another rootsy Texan, Steve Bedunah plays folk-rock with a bit of grit and edge, as well as a tantalizing twang. His themes relating to the common man ring true. He is a keenly observant storyteller. Armed with strong lyrics, he should become a prominent figure on the Americana music scene."
Paul Freeman - Palo Alto Times (Jan 26, 2007)
"Here's one for those who've known the loner's road. Steve Bedunah's deep voice and melancholic ballads put you in a rough hewn dwelling in the woods, self-banished from the city, knowledgeable of alcoholism and still tantalized by it.
Tonal quality is warm and deep, the instrumentation largely (his) acoustic guitar with notes of Dobro, mandolin, pedal steel, and electric guitar. Most of the ten selections are dark and taken at somber pace.
The title track is the most upbeat and has us sitting in at the blues jam at a local bar. "Little Siser" is howdown noir about a family is no better than it needs to b e, while "Please Have Her Call Me" concerns a relationship shaded by a past that will not be denied.
The first two verses of the brilliant opening cut "Down To This River" are taken at funereal gait with guitar, mournful fiddle, and off-beat drums. The third verse shifts to defiant stride, with banjo additive — but its back to slowness for the finish. There's great aural staging on this treatment of self-banishment, as on another standout, "Oak Planks," envisioning a warn and battered man of the sort we've all seen, may have been, and may become. So what's the bottom line on Bedunah?
He gives us good singing, musicianship, and — most importantly, to my reckoning — good storytelling. It's far from a cheerful CD but its even further from depressing. It's more like real life drama as it is when the undeniable dark is met with grace, maturity, and a hardy heart."
Tim Shuller - Buddy Magazine (May 2007)
Hand Me Down Land-CD
"The first thing that catches your ear is the band laying down a twangin', thumpin' Cash-like groove. The second thing that you notice is that your in the presence of a major songwriter. This dark dramatic word portrait will haunt you."
Robert K. Oermann/Music Row Magazine
"If Ray Wylie Hubbard ever wants to franchise, this gifted singer and songwriter from Wichita Falls proves himself qualified for the job with a CD of smoky and smart Texas neo-folk that's close in style, sound and quality to the best work of the master."
Rob Patterson/Texas Music Magazine
"...Bedunah joins the ranks of the keen observers of the state's[Texas] rural/urban/suburban situations. The observers, such as Butch Hancock, James McMurtry and Bedunah, know how to take what they see, hear and have lived and turn them into songs that matter."
Jim Beal/San Antonio Express
[Bedunah's] deep rich voice seems to carry not only the weight of the world but also a feeling of menace for those that wrong him, be it intentional or out of unintended circumstance. His songs are strong and literate with a vivid imagery that brings his pictures to the forefront...An especially strong debut offering from this promising singer/songwriter."
Bob Gottlieb/Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange
"Soaked in southern singer-songwriter skills that Townes, Guy Clark and others have done before him, Steve Bedunah draws songs... out with a drawl that compliments the great but simple roots-ish arrangements. ...Timeless and put together to near perfection, the weary, barroom sound emitted from Bedunah's pipes are soothing and rough at the same time."
Jason McNeil/PopMatters
""I ain't worth a damn" is uttered from the mouth of Steve Bedunah, but he is certainly worth a damn or possibly two... Steve Bedunah has an eye for the details that pictures the tension in a situation. His complications and bluesy delivery on a basically country format make for a marbled and ripe slice of AmericanaJohn Shelton Ivany/JSITTOP21
