Blue Cactus’ Steph Stewart is ready to take on SXSW
By Meg Richards
Ever heard of “cosmic Americana?” Blue Cactus, an American roots band from North Carolina, uses this term to describe their sound — an intersection between the traditional swing of their music with an ambient synth that modernizes the genre. The result is dizzying melodies that elicit a sonic experience that is nostalgic and comforting yet fresh and edgy.
Blue Cactus, an American-roots band from North Carolina, is one of those artists. Made up of Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, the two set out to make country music cool again in 2016.
“Once you got out of elementary school, country wasn’t cool, and you weren’t supposed to listen to it,” Stewart said with a laugh” And so that’s been a whole interesting journey for me is reclaiming that music in a way that it’s my own, and it’s like, kind of part of who I am, and being proud of that.”
Blue Cactus’ signature electric twang is influenced by the kind of artists that Stewart listened to throughout her life, no matter what phase she was going through. Country artists like Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, and George Jones, whose billowing ballads are tinged with melancholy and gravitas, helped Stewart through life’s ups and downs, eventually leading her and Arnez’s paths to cross.
“He and I had a previous project for a few years that was more of a string band Americana thing. We played around one microphone and all acoustic instruments,” she said. “But then over time, like our bandmates, you know, had kids moved away, life happened, and we kept finding ourselves getting gigs, and we were the only two available.”
“At the same time, we started writing music together, and that was music that was a little bit different than what we had been doing. And Mario started to bring an electric guitar. So it really sort of took a whole different shape than that project, and it felt like something completely different,” she said.
She described their creative process as organic. They found their sound by writing traditional Americana songs and using Arnez’s guitar to electrify them. The results are vocals that croon, production that excites, and lyrics that lure you in.
“I listen to lyrics a lot,” Stewart said. “Even the same song, I can listen to it for 10 years or more, and it’ll have a new meaning someday.”
This attention to detail is apparent in their work. In their latest release, “This Kind of Rain,” Stewart and Arnez, joined by fellow North Carolina folkster Kate Rhudy, sing of a different kind of rain, one that disconcerts, debilitates, and devastates.
“I don’t know if I’m getting better.
If I’m getting worse
But I’m getting by.”
Their next album, Believer, is set to release on April 25th, 2025, just a month after the duo’s featured artist showcase at SXSW in Austin, TX. Stewart noted how different the audience reactions in Texas have been compared to other shows they’ve done.
“Texas as a whole state actually has a different way of listening to music than I’ve experienced anywhere that we’ve toured. I feel like no matter where you play there, people actually care about the music, and they are there to listen,” she said. “Whether you’re at a bar or a restaurant, which would normally be background music anywhere else, but people actually don’t have conversations in those spaces if there’s a musician on stage.”
Blue Cactus is represented by Sleepy Cat Records, for whom Stewart serves as sponsorship director, and is a locally owned record label in North Carolina. Other artists represented by Sleepy Cat, who Stewart calls “labelmates,” will also be performing at SXSW, including Lonnie Walker and T. Gold.
“It’s kind of like a family reunion,” she said cheerily.
But Stewart also emphasized how enthusiastic she was to discover other artists at SXSW.
“I just hope that I discover something that I don’t really know. I feel like these days, with all the information we have access to so easily, it sort of takes away the surprise factor,” she said. “I think I’m really excited about not knowing anything about what’s going on and just discovering it.”
Those wishing to do the same can catch Blue Cactus at Stephen F’s bar on March 14th during SXSW at 9:30 CDT.