Steve Kramp is a folky singer-songwriter whose acoustic guitar-picking ranges from moonlit and delicate to railing and aggressive. His passionate tenor voice contains a beautifully oily, natural vibrato that can melt anyone's heart.

Steve Kramp is also charming, warm, and cordial. You can hear it in his music. He is so cordial, in fact, that he agreed to play that favorite childhood fortune telling game, M.A.S.H.* The results of Steve's suspense-filled round are in bold.

*In M.A.S.H., the participant chooses four options in each category (what job you'd like, who you want to marry, etc.) and three are eliminated through chance. The results are the person's fate.

CAR: A PALANQUIN MADE OF BONE
"From the ranks of the angelic military/from institutes/from the ocean of gray/we all come falling." --from Diablo
Steve's lyrics convey two images to the listener. One is travel, particularly train travel, consistent with the old-time sensibility of his music. His guitar rolls, conjuring musical steam like a freight, evoking the image of train hoppers on their way to California during the Depression.

WIFE : EMMA GOLDMAN
The second image is of someone fighting the good fight, getting sooty, roughened and weary, all with a determined integrity. For all his soft qualities, Steve's music is gritty.

KIDS: "AS MANY AS THERE ARE GRAINS OF SAND ON THE BEACH"
Steve says, "When you're recording, you have options; it's documentation, and more formal. I enjoy it, if only so I don't have to worry about those songs anymore. I've gotten them done, can shift my focus. I have about eighty songs."

PET: A VIDEO OF AUDREY HEPBURN
Sorry, I have no idea what this means.

OCCUPATION: BELL RINGER
"[Songwriting] is pretty consuming it's the one thing I want to do," Steve says. I ask him why he writes songs, and he says, "There's no 'why' to it anymore."

RELIGION: ANN LANDERS
Steve Kramp's music is soul-baringly honest, without ever getting too cheesy or self-important. He's the kind of guy who drinks chamomile tea.