Baltimore-based singer/songwriter, Steve Erwin recorded Was It Like This with the late, great guitarist Danny Gatton. His chops accentuate Erwin’s first-rate tunes so well, you’d think they’d been playing together all their lives.

The melancholy “In Fall” is a great example of Gatton’s licks and Erwin’s writing. He sums up the melancholia of autumn with simple phrasing, You’re sad and you never know why/ Each and every breeze can send up a sigh. “Sweet Boy” is a light stomp reminding a lover not to take a good man for granted. “ Walkin’ This Road” has the appropriate strut as Erwin ponders going down a “righteous” yet “ lonesome” road. Gatton really shines here.

“Uncomplicated Love” is a bluesy plea to Santa for a simpler life and love. “Born a Tourist” has a relentless beat and the funniest line on the album, I came into this Earth in a Hawaiian shirt/ And I’ll probably leave that way. It’s a good ending to a tasty six-pack of tunes. - Neil Fagan, Performing Songwriter Magazine
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Washington D.C.-area singer/songwriter Steve Erwin exacts a quiet influence on those around him.  With an operatic voice and a detailed-oriented style of song craft, Erwin has made himself a staple of The Beltway’s music scene.  Back in 2006, Erwin released Was It Like This, a debut album that was re-released in 2008 with bonus tracks.  Erwin’s songwriting and voice are certain to capture your attention, and the guitar work of no less than Danny Gatton in support helps to push a good-bordering-on-great album over the edge.
 
Was It Like This opens with “Sweet Boy,” a solid story-teller song built in a ménage of blues, country and roots rock.  Erwin fills the song with inflection and energy with a voice that makes you want to keep listening.  “Oh, Howard” blends murder, intrigue and the depths of alcoholism into a story about a mentor gone on the lam; an entertaining turn that truly displays Erwin’s talent for detail-oriented song craft.  “In Fall” is a work of art.  Erwin’s quiet song of remembrance is enhanced by Gatton, who fills and frolics in subtly magical measure.  “Walkin’ This Road” is great bluesy-folk with a gospel tinge and R&B backbeat, and is an entertaining tune with a one-day-at-a-time theme that is highly entertaining.  

“Uncomplicated Love” is a classic Christmas-themed ballad that’s lovelorn and weary yet hopeful all at once.  Erwin bemoans his search for a love that’s built on the basics.  The songwriting here is so classic in style you’ll swear it must be a cover.   “Born A Tourist” is a nine-minute blues/rock guitar clinic in the form of a song.  Starting in slow dynamic turns, Erwin and Gatton take listeners to frenetic heights before setting you gently back on earth again.  Particularly if you yourself play guitar, this song on its own makes the album worth checking out.  “Adult Love” explores the twists and turns love sometimes takes before it ends up settling where it belongs.  The theme and lyrics here are solid, but for once Erwin oversteps his bounds in a song that seems musically interminable with its woeful/whiney feel.  

“In The Mix” is a solid, jazz-infused number that shows off the live energy of Erwin and his band while retaining some of the fine-tuning that a studio recording provides.  “I Will Sleep” has some real pizzazz, but the melody line veers out of Erwin’s comfortable range and suffers for the fact.  Erwin closes with a stylish live cover of George Gershwin and DuBose Howard’s “Summertime” (Porgy & Bess), hamming up the vocal a bit, presumably to try and sound in character.  It’s a solid performance, but sounds ill conceived in light of the grand history of the song.  “Summertime” is one of those tunes that have become so iconic that anything less than a stellar performance pales in comparison to the great performances offered up by artists throughout its history.

Steve Erwin does a lot of things right on Was It Like This.  His voice, within his comfortable range, is very much worth spending some time with.  Erwin also has distinctive skill as a songwriter and storyteller, showing an attention to detail in his lyrics that is rare and even harder to make work well within the structure of a song.  The addition of Danny Gatton’s guitar work is a boon as well.  Gatton dashes and dances between Erwin’s melody lines with a flair that’s legendary, illuminating the songs with rhythms, sounds and fills that turn great songwriting into works of art.  There are a few wrong turns on this trip, but even they serve to make Was It Like This a bit more memorable.
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There is a magnetism to this music, the guitar playing and the voice, that pulls you in. Somewhat guiltily I admit that when I am checking out an artist I sometimes just listen to the first track and the third track. The song that an artist puts in "the 3-hole" is often my favorite. This time I was rewarded: "In Fall" is a melancholy mood number not to be missed. Recommended!
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