As the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival celebrates its 25th year, several favourite acts from the past have been invited back, including some that haven't been around for quite awhile. Even though he lives in Montreal, this year's Juno Award-winning blues artist Steve Hill hasn't played the festival in 16 years, but he remembers it well, for good reason.

"Glad I'll be back at Harvest, I remember playing there back in '99, and it was one of the best shows I've done," Hill says, on the phone somewhere on the Gaspe Peninsula. "It was quite something, quite a night. It was already a pretty nice festival even then."

Harvest has grown since that time, and much has changed for Hill as well. Long a band leader, these days Hill does the complete show all by himself. Don't called it solo though; he's actually a one-man blues band.

"I started doing this about four years ago," he explains. "I got a lot of gear. It's a guitar that's been modified so you hear bass at the same time. I'm standing up, and I got a bass drum, a snare and a high-hat that I play with pedals. And there's a drum stick on my guitar's head stock that I play a cymbal and a high-hat with. And I play harp on a few songs. I like to keep myself busy."

This isn't old acoustic blues by any means. While the band is stripped back, the amps are turned up. "It's pretty loud, ya ya," he acknowledges. "I'm louder than most bands."

It's also been a hugely successful move for Hill. The one-man band style has resulted in two albums so far in his Solo Recordings series. They've made him the top star in the Canadian blues scene right now. "Volume One is my best-selling album ever, and Volume Two is catching up," he confirms. "Volume One was nominated for a Juno, Volume Two won the Juno and the Maple Blues Award for Album of the Year."

"This whole thing started as a side project, and I don't have any time to play with a band any more, I'm so busy with this. You never know, I started playing in clubs when I was 16, that's 25 years ago, and I've done a lot of different things; blues, hard rock, country rock, stoner rock, jump blues, a lot of different styles, but I never would have thought that success would finally happen by becoming a one-man band. So it just goes to show, you just gotta keep at it, and eventually something's bound to happen."

Again, let's make it clear. Don't expect to see a guy up there with an acoustic guitar playing delta blues standards. These are new, modern and loud Hill compositions, with a bunch most bands would kill for. And lots and lots of wattage.
"I got so much gear to be able to do that live, there's four of us on the road," laughs Hill. "I got three guys working for me, for a one-man band. It's ridiculous."

Steve Hill is in Northern N.B. before he hits Harvest. He'll be at the Brasserie 1026 in Campbellton Thursday, Sept. 17. Friday night, the show is in Bathurst at Studio 2, and then on Saturday, he'll play a free show at Harvest at 2 PM in Officer's Square with Samantha Martin, before joining The North Mississippi Allstars and Charles Bradley at the Blues Rockin' Soul show in the Blues Tent Saturday night.