Steven Gene Wold (né Leach; 19 March 1951),[2] commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American blues musician.

[5] He has since released a number of commercially successful albums, including I Started Out with Nothin and I Still Got Most of It Left, Man from Another Time, and Sonic Soul Surfer.

The publicity about Wold at the time he first became successful in Britain, in the mid-2000s, suggested that he was then aged in his sixties, and emphasised his past as a hobo in Tennessee and Mississippi.

"[6] By his own account, he would travel long distances by hopping freight trains, looking for work as a farm laborer or in other seasonal jobs.

[12][4][13][14] Steve Wold was born in Oakland, California, as Steven Gene Leach, though his biographer suggests that he may have been adopted as a baby.

[20] He attended the Monterey Pop Festival, regularly saw bands such as The Grateful Dead perform in the area, and became acquainted with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

[23] In 1970, as Steve Leach, he became the bass player in an innovative band, Shanti, who performed a fusion of Indian and rock music.

He has claimed to have played with other musicians including Son House, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and Joni Mitchell around this time.

[28][4][29] He also sang on the first album released by Mike Love's side project Celebration, a collaboration with members of the Paris-based band King Harvest.

For a time in the early 1980s, he lived in London, and then with Elisabeth in Skelmersdale, England, which biographer Wright notes is the location of a major Transcendental Meditation movement center.

[33] He was acquainted with Kurt Cobain, and began producing records by local musicians, including Kathleen Hanna and Fitz of Depression.

A 2001 interview with the Tremens described Wold as a "Pacific Northwest music icon... who has put his recording stamp on some of the most influential bands to come out of Puget Sound.

[37] Wold released his first album, entitled Cheap, recorded in 2004 with the Level Devils as his rhythm section, with Jo Husmo on stand-up bass and Kai Christoffersen on drums.

His debut solo album, Dog House Music was released by Bronzerat Records on 26 November 2006, after he was championed by an old friend, Joe Cushley, DJ on the Balling The Jack blues show on London radio station Resonance FM.

Wold made his first UK television appearance on Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny BBC TV show on New Year's Eve 2006.

[40] Wold's major-label debut, I Started Out with Nothin and I Still Got Most of It Left was recorded with Dan Magnusson on drums, was released by Warner Music on 29 September 2008, and features Ruby Turner and Nick Cave's Grinderman.

[41] He has toured the UK extensively since 2007 being supported by performers including Duke Garwood, Gemma Ray, Billie the Vision and the Dancers, Amy LaVere, Melody Nelson and Joe Gideon & The Shark.

[46] On 21 January, Wold hosted "Folk America: Hollerers, Stompers and Old Time Ramblers" at the Barbican in London, a show that was also televised and shown with the documentary on BBC Four as part of a series tracing American roots music.

'[49]On 3 January 2010, Wold appeared on the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear as the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car.

[citation needed] John Paul Jones did indeed appear onstage to play with Wold at the Isle of Wight 2011 festival[55] and on the main stage of Rock Werchter 2011.

Wold then presented a four-string guitar that his friend Davey Chivers had made out of two old hubcaps from a 1970 Minor 1000 named Cynthia joined back-to-back and his wife's broomstick.

[6] Wold has said that he has problems putting down roots in one place, and he and his wife have lived in 59 houses to date, including Norway and the United Kingdom.

[63] His youngest son, Paul Martin Wold, played drums on Dog House Music and first made a guest appearance with him on percussion at the Astoria in January 2008.

[citation needed] He has since performed with Wold frequently, playing washboard, shakers, tambourine, floor tom and occasionally guitar.