Steve Gunn

An American guitarist and songwriter based in New York, Steve Gunn hails from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he first cut his teeth in independent bands before becoming involved in the New York experimental scene. After stints with the psychedelic trio GHQ and Kurt Vile’s band The Violators, Gunn began in the late 2000s to develop a solo body of work that blends folk, indie rock, and the legacy of the so-called American Primitive guitarists. His early albums, including Steve Gunn (2008) and Boerum Palace (2009), are rooted in an instrumental, atmospheric vein, before Time Off (2013) and Way Out Weather (2014), released on Three Lobed Recordings and Paradise of Bachelors, asserted a more song-oriented format. Later signed to Matador Records, Gunn released Eyes on the Lines (2016), The Unseen in Between (2019), and Other You (2021), where his fluid, modal guitar playing meets songwriting shaped by 1970s folk-rock and understated psychedelic influences. In parallel, he leads several duo projects—notably the Gunn-Truscinski Duo—and collaborates with musicians from the folk, improvised, and indie scenes, with whom he regularly tours across North America and Europe.