Steve Poltz
Mel Lehan Hall at St. James, Vancouver, BC
June 28, 2025
Steve Poltz has quietly emerged as the kind of live phenomenon celebrated passionately by a diehard fanbase worldwide. It might’ve even been last night, but Steve Poltz just played the greatest show of his life. Guess what? The next show will be even greater, making that show the greatest show of his life.
Saturday night at Mel Lehan Hall at St. James was Halifax-born, California-raised Steve Poltz’s greatest show of his life. Poltzy also shared the greatest John Prine story.
Steve Poltz had to go to Ireland to discover John Prine. The year was 1988. Poltz was a street musician busking, playing for passing change. Steve Poltz stayed with these three bachelors with really thick Irish accents that met him on the street.
“So they come up to me and they go, We would like you to stay at our house. How about that? So I stay at their house. They go to work every day, and they have every John Prine record” Steve Poltz revealed.
“So I would put the vinyl record on, lift up the needle, and let it play the song that I wanted to hear. Well, I was really into this one song John Prine wrote. It’s called Illegal Smile.
A song about getting stoned. I was trying to figure out the judge’s name in the verse. He went to court, and he goes, The judge’s name was Hoffman. Because I’d scratched the record from lifting the needle, it would go, The judge’s name was Hoffman, Hoffman, Hoffman, Hoffman, Hoffman.
And then I had to write down the chords because I had to listen to it, because YouTube didn’t exist. You couldn’t go to YouTube University to take a guitar lesson. No, you had to figure it out on your own.” he continued.
“So I get a record deal with Mercury Universal Records.
John Prine’s manager is this guy named Al Bunetta. He likes my music. So he starts flying out to see me.
He wants to maybe sign me to John Prine’s label. But I was already signed to this major label deal. But he kept going, man, you’ve got to meet John Prine. You’ve got to meet John Prine. John would love you. Come out to my farm.
I’d go out to his farm, the Frog Hollow Farm in Nashville. He had a big rod iron gates that opened up on a remote control on ten acres. And he’d look at me when I’d pull up and he’d go, folk music built this. You never hear of folk music building anything. Look where we are. But that’s what he said. Folk music built this. Anyways, I figure every time I’m in Nashville, John Prine was never there.” Steve Poltz continued.
Steve Poltz thought that he was never going to meet John Prine. It turns out that Prine was playing in San Diego, California. The show was sold out and Poltz didn’t have tickets. He’d just gotten off the road. He went out surfing. When he was done, he threw his surfboards in the back of his Volkswagen van, and got a veggie burrito and tacos at Roberto’s Taco Shop.
“And I came back up to my house where I was living. And I had an answering machine with a microcassette.” Poltz said. “That thing was beeping. I listened to the message. It was Al Bunetta, John Prine’s manager. He goes, Steve, John Prine’s in town. Your town, San Diego tonight. Call me back immediately. My hands were shaking. I was eating the burrito. I called back.” Poltz continued.
Steve Poltz thought that Al Bunetta was going to give him tickets to the show. “Hey, Al, it’s Poltzy. And he goes, Poltzy, how you doing? I go, John Prine’s in town tonight. He goes, I know. And I go, it’s sold out. I don’t have tickets. And he goes, oh, that’s too bad. The guy doesn’t even offer me tickets. And he goes, hey, can you pick him up at his hotel and drive him to the Disney store? He needs to get toys for Tommy and Jack, who were little kids back then.
This is years ago. And if you could have seen me, I was like Snoopy, where he does the happy dance. And I was trying to get John Prine in my Volkswagen van.
And so I said, where’s he standing? He goes, he’s at the Horton Grand Hotel, which happens to be right next to Horton Plaza, where the Disney store is. So he could walk there. You think I’d tell Al Bunetta that? We didn’t have GPS back then. We used to have to get directions. So I go, I know what I’ll do. I’ll pick him up at his hotel and I’ll get on the Interstate 5 South and just start driving south a few exits. I’ll come back around. And I’ll take him to the underground garage. And he won’t know where the hell he is, because the Disney store is on the other side.”
Keep in mind that when Steve Polz is telling this John Prine story that he’s also changing his voice to try and sound like John Prine.
“So I get him in my Volkswagen van. He gets into the van. And it’s a mess. I have broken John Prine CDs, cracked, with a half-eaten veggie burrito on it. I was so nervous. I was still in my surfboard shorts. Man. John Prine gets in the van. He goes, I love what you’ve done with the place. I’ve never forgotten that. And then I get on Interstate 5 South. And I just start driving south. Next thing I know, I’m so excited. He’s in my car. I’m talking to him. We’re talking to each other. And then the sign says, Tijuana, next exit. And then I look over. And his eyes are kind of scared. He goes, is the Disney store in Mexico? And then it says, last exit back to USA.
So I make a U-turn and I get on 5 North. And he looks at the sign and he goes, weren’t we just on 5 South? And then I go, we’re almost there. We had to take a detour.
He goes into the Disney store. And then he goes, I got to call my wife Fiona because I can never remember what I got them. And then he looks me in the eyes and he says, and they never forget.
It sent a chill down my spine all the way to my ankles the way he did that one. Of course, you’re John Prine. It’s just like my mom said when you were writing, who was there? What happened? And how did it make you feel? John Prine looked through my soul and said, and they never forget.
So he calls Fiona his wife. He’s talking to her on the phone to see what toys he needs to get. He looks out the window and there’s a sign blinking and it says Horton Brand.
Talk about the look of fear. He looked at me like it was a Stephen King novel. Misery. And I was going to take him to my house and chain him to my bed and hobble his knees and make him write me my own John Prine songs. And then he says to me, are you going to take me back to my hotel? Or should I just walk so I don’t end up in Mexico.
And then I go, get in the van, John. He goes, what? And I go, the van. Get in the van, John. And he does. I drive him back to his hotel. Then he goes, are you coming to the show tonight? And I go, no, I can’t. It’s sold out. I don’t have tickets. And then he says, now you do.
And I go, well, let me give you my name. And he goes, I know who you are. My manager warned me about you.”
The story that Steve Poltz had just shared with the audience was filmed a year ago by his friend Otis Gibbs. He told the audience that Otis came over to his house in Nashville to film the story. “Guess what? A few months ago, the three Irish guys who live in Ireland loved John Prime. That’s how big this video’s going,” Steve Poltz explained, and cracking a smile.
“And they went, that’s the dude that scratched our record. We must get in touch with him now. So they wrote me a letter. And I went, oh my God. Then I went through all my pictures from Ireland and I found a picture of us on a beach all in our underwear. And I sent them that. And they said, you still owe us money for the record. With interest.
I can’t even believe it. So now we’re friends again. Isn’t that amazing?” finished Poltz.