Who is Catfish Stephenson?

A singer. A songwriter.
A legendary, guitar-slinging blues busker.
A failed marine. A failed seminarian.
A soul-saving Pentecostal preacher man.
A cycle-riding, gun-toting,
nut-job attracting,
road-kill-barbecuing,
American-made musical anti-hero for our times.
A genuine, one-of-a-kind, original.

"Mama had a jug band."

Even before he shaved off the droopy trademark mustache that earned him his nickname, "Catfish" Stephenson had a long history of skirting expectation. Young Stephenson grew up in a household that hummed with music: Tin Pan Alley, The Gershwins, Sinatra, ragtime, fox trots, and country two-steps. His mother fronted a popular jug band of the day, and both grandfathers jammed the squeezebox. And while making music was a matter of fact in the family, making a life of music wasn't a vocation anyone could have predicted for young Catfish.

"I was looking for me."

Growing up, Stephenson devoured books about the old west. He spent hours poring over the grainy black and white images searching for a face that resembled his own. He knew he belonged to a different time and place. Out of step with his AM radio-loving peers, Stephenson found himself drawn to a different sort of music: Hank Williams, Lightin' Hopkins, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and any number of broken-down, uncelebrated bluesmen long forgotten.

"I watched. And I learned."

Following fruitless, failed, and blessedly brief stints in the Catholic seminary and military, Stephenson took to the road where his real musical education began. From Madison, WI to Steamboat Springs, CO to Springfield, OR, to Austin, TX, to Ocean Springs, MS, to Key Largo, FL, and back, he crisscrossed the country, south and west. And in every backcountry cur dog town, and at every red dirt bump-in-the-road in between, Stephenson sought out the local country and blues musicians who became his teachers and musical mentors.

"I make music to please me."

Thousands of street corner gigs, hundreds of skanky bars and sorry-assed whorehouses, and countless musical line-ups later, Catfish Stephenson and his current co-conspirators have cooked up something utterly new. Their latest release-"The Way You Move"-is a greasy gumbo of delta blues, swampy serenades, Texas boogie, roadhouse rave-ups, lonesome cowboy laments, and the odd Parrothead lullaby. Catfish Stephenson's music is a heartfelt homage to all things musically American.

It feels like freedom and it rings like truth.

 

 Honors & Awards

Nominee - Best Americana Artist:
2005 MAMA (Madison Area Music Awards)

Nominee - Best Blues Artist:
2004 MAMA (Madison Area Music Awards)

Honorable Mention - Blues:
2003 Madison Songwriter's Groups National Songwriting Contest--"Gospel Accordin' to the Blues"

First Place - Best Blues Original:
2002 Madison Songwriter's Group National Songwriting Contest --"Shiftin' Gears"

 Catfish Stephenson
P.O. Box 1824
Madison, WI 53701-1824
Phone: 608-240-9704
contact by email

Catfish performed on Garrison Keilor's "A Prarie Home Companion" live from Madison, WI on 1/10/04. Other guests included Cindy Cashdollar and Kasey Jones. Click the link to hear him perform
"Shiftin' Gears" and "Catch A Train" in Segment 4.

Photos courtsey of MPR NEW MEDIA

Venues
 A Praire Home Companion
Bastille Days--Milwaukee, WI
The Bremen Cafe--Milwaukee, WI
Cafe Momartre--Madison, WI
The Crystal Corner--Madison,WI
The Ginkgo Coffeehouse--St. Paul, MN
The Harmony Bar--Madison,WI
The Heartland Cafe--Chicago, Il
The Hideout--Chicago, Il		 High Noon Salon--Madison, WI
Luther's Blues--Madison, WI
The Mill--Iowa City, IA
Mother Fool's--Madison, WI
The Orton Park Festival--Madison, WI
Smoke Daddy's--Chicago, Il
Uncommon Ground--Chicago, Il
Wausau Blues Society Festival--Wausau, WI
Wild Hog in the Woods Coffeehouse--Madison, WI

Films with Catfish's music:

"Harry's Will"
"War of Atrition"
"Young Hawk Seven"

 

 Heart, Mind and Soul

One of Catfish's solo acoustic CD's featuring traditional tunes by Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller and Muddy Waters,along with some of Catfish's most memorable originals, including one of the moving title track, "Heart, Mind and Soul".

Currently Sold Out
 

  The Way You Move

"…From the rambunctious stomper "Move with It" to the poignantly drifting "Sailing Boat" to the dirtied-up roadhouse shuffle "Shake It Loose", the been-around-and-still-standing country character he plays is animated, unreserved and unafraid of revealing the emotions that inform the creases in his weathered face."
"…Stephenson jumps up and demands to be noticed on this exceptional live-in-the-studio recording…if someone with clout and a good set of ears hears 'The Way You Move', Stephenson will get some serious attention from the larger Americana and roots audience. 'Cuz this cd simply brims with musical personality from start to finish. Buy it you'll like it." Tom Laskin, Isthmus (Madison, WI ).

Buy Now for only $15.00 includes S&H.