Steffen Heins

Picture this scene: It’s a warm summer evening, a little early for fireflies yet, and kids are running spirals in the grass. Some friends are gathered casually on lawn chairs, and another is kicked back on a blanket.

As the adults chat, a couple of the more rambunctious boys are coming periously close to violating the “don’t cross the sidewalk” rule. One mom spins her energetic boy like an airplane, spins him and spins him, as he is a child who will sleep well tonight.

Meanwhile, two old friends are standing around singing nutritious, coffeehouse-style music, including that Americana classic, “There Ain’t No Bugs on Me.”
It’s a party where you can go barefoot if you want. And you can bring your dog.

Steffen Heins and Bill Melton perform mostly original music, an organic mix of the sorts of musical styles that have sprung forth on American soil: country, Americana folk, blues, Appalachian bluegrass.

But the twist here is that these guys are from Iowa. They’ve seen something of the world, but they’ve chose to come back and take root, creating an unpretentious musical backdrop for the lives of contemporary Iowans...

There’s a little bit of American Gothic yearning, a little bit of Midwestern practicality tucked between the notes. And maybe there’s some wryly stubborn romanticism, thrown in for good measure.

This isn’t the sort of music where you feel the human spirit exalted in the throes of operatic ecstasy. Actually, it’s more like warm mud squishing between your toes.
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Brenda Fullick, Dallas County News
- Dallas County News