Across the decades, the old, street-corner, publike “hotels” and bars of Melbourne, Australia, have launched many artists to global acclaim, including the likes of John Farnham, Nick Cave, Paul Kelly and Courtney Barnett, to name but a few.
Now Steph Strings is ready for her international breakout.
Hailing originally from Melbourne, Strings got her start as a street performer playing guitar instrumentals. She was 19 years old when she played her first formal gig at The Evelyn Hotel, a bar with a music room, on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, just outside central Melbourne, working up the courage to sing with her guitar for the first time.
“I sang ‘Dusty Roads’ that night,” she recalls in a mini-documentary posted on her website, describing her performance of an early song. “And it sounded horrific.” But her family, she says, “were so proud of me.” (On Spotify, “Dusty Roads” has since been streamed more than 2.1 million times).
Now 25, Strings is a confident, accomplished singer-songwriter whose debut album, Feel Alive, arrived in Australia on Jan. 9 and debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA album chart — a remarkable achievement for a fully independent, self-released title.
A charming virtuoso who has spent years posting performances online, String’s engaging social media presence has fueled her rise. She has topped 976,000 followers on Instagram, and a recent reel of her performance with Jesse Wells at Massey Hall in Toronto has topped 10,600 views.
All of this has set the stage for Strings’ first extended headlining tour of North America, Europe, Australia, with a one-off performance in Brazil, followed by festival dates including the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in June, and — just announced — dates with Wells in July, August and October.
Strings played her first headlining show in Brooklyn on March 18 at Baby’s All Right in the Williamsburg neighborhood. Here are five of the evening’s best moments:
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“Never in a Million Years”
That song on the house sound system as Strings took the stage? It was “Sunrise” by fellow Australian and guitar master John Butler. Then, exhibiting her confidence, Strings showed what sets her apart from any of a number of emerging singer-songwriters — dazzling, dizzying, enchanting instrumental guitar playing.
“Well. welcome to the Feel Alive World Tour,” said Strings, greeting the crowd. “I just wanted to start off this show by saying, never in a million years did I think I would be doing my own headline show in Brooklyn, N.Y. You guys bloody rock!”
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Season of the Witch
Arriving at the Williamsburg venue earlier in the day, Strings spotted a sports-medicine clinic just down the street. “I was originally going to be a physiotherapist,” she told the crowd. “I always thought that being a musician was a silly job.”
But on an early tour in Australia, when her van broke down, she was greeted by an old woman on the road — and later captured their encounter in her song “Lila” from her 2023 EP, Lion, singing: “I met a witch in Mullumbimby/ She told me to focus on my life plan/ to follow all of my dreams and my passions/ and to remember who I am.”
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A Rare Sound in a Brooklyn Bar
Whether Strings was telling a story of her musical journey, playing an exquisite arpeggio on her guitar or singing one of her finely crafted songs, she was accompanied by a sound rarely heard in a showcase club in Brooklyn, or a small venue anywhere else — silence. There was no one talking over her at the bar, no one treating her performance as a backdrop. Her command of the crowd at Baby’s All Right was complete.
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“I Know Who I Am”
Strings may have been performing solo, but she had backup singers — scores of them. She encouraged the audience to sing along on the choruses of songs such as “Gratefully,” in which she declares, “I know who I am, but I’ve still got more to say,” or her cover of “Follow the Sun,” written by Australian singer-songwriter and activist Xavier Rudd, or the stomp-box-driven “Three Wishes” with its wonderful lyrical twist at the end.
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“Just the Beginning”
Even at this early stage in her career in the United States, Strings has fans who have followed her for years. Her performance of “Dusty Road” drew a shout from a listener who knew the pubs of Melbourne like the one where she first performed it. A fan she met before the show requested “Wildfire” from a 2022 EP. And Strings gave a shout-out once again to John Butler and his epic instrumental “Ocean” before performing what she called her answer to that work, her own magnificent “San Remo.” As she finished, she held her guitar high, placed her hand on her heart and told the crowd, “I’m 25 years old. I’m from Australia. And this is just the beginning.”
