STEVE NYSTRUP – AN ARTIST SPOTLIGHT AND INTERVIEW
Photo Marilyn Catasus
By Ralph Beauchamp
Steve Nystrup is a singer songwriter whose music instills an unmistakable emotional imprint onto his listeners. Based in the Northeast, Nystrup‘s songs lean towards themes that encompass the human spirit including longing, devotion and relationships. His music carries an acoustic warmth that bathes his patrons with sublime illuminations. Steve Nystrup lets his delicate arrangements and vivid vocal intonations do the heavy lifting. There is no need for unnecessary flair or bombast. His words speak for themselves.
Sonically, Steve Nystrup delivers a transcendent sincerity. His musicianship is truly elevated. His singular guitar revelations complement his songwriting perfectly. The instrumentation never overwhelms the song’s primary core. Everything works in total organic harmony. In addition, his voice has a profound innate quality. Steve Nystrup utilizes his intimate vocal inflections to capture the hearts and souls of his fans.. Steve‘s last EP is the majestic, Stay a Little Longer (2024) which highlights his strong songwriting acumen and his intrinsic storytelling.
Also, Steve Nystrup is an Emmy Award winning guitarist and composer. He performs with the band Fountainhead alongside his wife, Maureen Wasik, and together with their son, Aaron Nystrup, performing as the Steve Nystrup Trio. During the vibrant coffeehouse scene of the 1990s, Steve released several CDs and shared the bill with artists including Pat Benatar, Boz Scaggs, Dar Williams, Patty Larkin, Richard Shindell, Kate Taylor, and Lucy Kaplansky.
Steve Nystrup & Friends will be performing at Cantean Coffee & Tea in Hamden on 5/1/26. The event is sponsored by Bigger Beast Records and All Boats Rise Entertainment.
Steve Nystrup was kind enough to sit for this interview.
AMP: When you are writing a song, what usually comes first for you – lyrics, melody or feeling?
STEVE: Definitely music first! The inspiration usually comes from experimenting on my guitar, perhaps in an altered tuning, and finding a hook or chord progression or a little motif that comes from the noodling. Although I have written songs that I have dreamed as well. Melody usually comes next and then finally the lyrics. Often the lyrics are formed from what I am feeling at the moment, the words coming to mind organically.
AMP: Who were some of your biggest musical influences and how do they show up in your sound today?
STEVE: I was fortunate to grow up in a musical household where there was plenty of music playing…big band music, popular songs, and then rock ‘n’ roll. Some of my early records were by Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley and top 40 songs. My earliest influence though was church music – going to the Methodist Church and singing the hymns and trying to read the music in the hymnals.
As a teenager my ear turned to the acoustic guitar. I leaned into finger style guitarists in the folk world like John Fahey, Tom Rush, Leo Kotke, and Jorma Kaukonen. These influences are clearly visible in my instrumental music as well as my songwriting today. “The Montrealer” is my train song ala Tom Rush’s “Panama Limited” for example, and “Mogador” is reminiscent of a John Fahey tune. As far as songwriting, “Long Long Time” has the feel of a Mary Chapin Carpenter song and “Coming Home” has the gospel sense of Marc Cohn.
AMP: How has personal life shaped the stories you tell in your music?
STEVE: I learned early on in songwriting to write what you know about. For me, it has always been relationships and their insights, or lack thereof, their hopes and longing, celebrations and regrets – lessons learned or not. Each new album represents another relationship and generally where I am at that point in time in the ongoing process of discovery.
AMP: Is there a particular experience that changed your direction as an artist?
STEVE: When I was living in New York City, I was writing and recording on my cassette tape recorder some finger style instrumental guitar music, and played the tape for a friend of mine, Steve Graziano, and he said that I should make a studio recording of that.
Eventually, after moving back to Connecticut, after many years in the city, I did make a recording at Tapeworks Studio in Hartford and released it on cassette. After seeing an ad in the Hartford Advocate asking local musicians to submit a song to WWUH folk radio for their upcoming Folk Next Door concert, I submitted “Canary Islands” and was accepted for the show and the subsequent CD. That event and the support of Ed McKeon and others really launched my career on the Folk scene.
AMP: How does performing live compare to recording in the studio for you?
STEVE: Performing live is so special as you are in the moment and sharing the experience with those around you. Ideally you are setting the tone and creating an emotional experience together. Whether playing at large venues or more intimate settings, the goal is to be in the place where that feeling is elevated and the audience is hanging on every note…or the silence between the notes. Then something magical happens. Playing with the band can also have that affect…that elevated state where you are more than the sum of the individual members. Pleasure shared is pleasure doubled!
I love recording in the studio as well. Again, there is a heightened sense of being in the moment and a laser focus. Not a tightening but a loosening. The musicians and engineers around you expand your hearing and open up lot’s of possibilities. There is often so much created right there on the spot!
AMP: What has been the biggest challenge navigating the music industry as an independent artist?
STEVE: The music industry has changed dramatically over time. Navigating the digital music industry today requires social media savvy, technology savvy, and lots of attention. Where we once could put out an album and then tour to promote it we now must release videos as well as content continuously on social media. And if you want likes on Spotify, you have to start by paying for playlist placements etc. It’s not payola, but not far from it!
AMP: Are there collaborations you’re excited about or dream of pursuing?
STEVE: I am excited about the collaborations that I have been doing with my wife Maureen Wasik in writing new songs and performing them. She has a wonderful sense of lyrics and melody. And she sings like an angel. Together with our son Aaron Nystrup on bass we comprise the SN Trio for acoustic shows. We also front and write for the legendary CT rock band Fountainhead which allows us to step out in a much different way.
AMP: Where do you see your music evolving over the next few years?
STEVE: I can see our music becoming more political in the future as the world becomes more divided by the day. it is the artist’s implicit obligation to speak to madness and yet offer a safe place for us to reconnect to that oneness in each of us. Lift the dialogue and lift the spirit with hope.
AMP: Morning writing sessions or late night inspiration?
STEVE: Inspiration for writing can come anytime day or night. And as I said earlier, sometimes in a dream! With the advent of cell phones and voice memos, it’s easier than ever to jot down ideas and save them in a recording anytime anywhere, to be crafted later. I have a back log of ideas and snippets on my phone just waiting their turn to be turned into a song.
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