Seasick Steve, Hammersmith Apollo, gig review: Former hobo veers from hoedown punk to tender ballads

Sonic Soul Surfer performed with expressive violinist Georgina Leach and drummer Dan Magnusson

Seasick Steve performing live (Rex Features)

There is plugging your new album, then there is plugging in a portable turntable and playing it for a live audience. It is testament to the affection Steven Wold is held in here that he gets away with such stunts.

As Seasick Steve, being a skilled raconteur plays a key role in resurrecting music forms usually heard on field recordings. Many years have passed since he was a hobo himself, a long time even before he found fame in the mid-noughties, yet this former carnie's charm and commitment lubricates a two-hour show that flows from hoedown punk to tender ballads.

Playing mainly as a duo with similarly hirsute drummer Dan Magnusson, a video screen brings out the details, focusing as much on Wold's outlandish instruments – one-string washboard, hubcap guitar – as on the artist's bearded, weather-beaten visage. Also key is the chemistry that enables the pair to extend hillbilly stomps into wilder jams.

Much of the set comes from current, return-to-form, album Sonic Soul Surfer, aided partly by expressive violinist Georgina Leach. While they lack the necessary Nick Cave-style drama for the sombre 'Swamp Dog', the brooding intensity of 'In Peaceful Dreams' suggests this old dawg can still hone old tricks.