Steven Estes - Bon Secour (2026)

Bon Secour is a musical telling of the story of Steven Estes’ great-aunt Ethel’s uncle, Lewis, from Lewis’ perspective, before and after his death. Ethel wrote a journal of her life, and Estes has used it in the creation of this album. Lewis had come to live with Ethel’s family in Baldwin County, on the south coast of Alabama, in 1905, after leaving Louisiana, apparently under a bit of a cloud: “I was invited to leave Louisiana in 1905/ Fell bass ackwards (sic) into Alabama more dead than alive/ I found a home where they teach a heart to give/ You know, they gave and gave unto me until I had all I could take”.

He seems to have been an individual who was followed by trouble: “Said burning bridges, that’s a hobby of mine”, and he got into a gunfight about a girl, killing his rival. He was caught after going on the run and was to be returned to Baldwin County. The sheriff taking him back stopped at the family home, where Lewis got hold of a gun and attempted to escape. He didn’t make it: “I bled out/ On the knotty pine floor”.

The words are appropriately set to old-time country-blues, with acoustic guitar and singing from Estes. As you listen, you picture someone sitting on the porch of their homestead, out in the wilds, at the turn of the twentieth century, picking their guitar. There is, however, accompaniment from Phil Madeira on Hammond B3 organ to fill out the sound a little. The songs are good and were recorded in single takes, which gives them an authentic, unpolished feel. However, in effect, there are only five songs on the album, and you wish for more. In between tracks, there are short clips of hymn music played by Estes’ wife, Amy, recorded in a church in Savannah, Georgia. These really enhance the story by giving a feeling of a god-fearing Alabama community in 1905.

The tale is told in a very engaging and poetic way. No Greater Love starts the story with the move to Alabama. It includes the intriguing line “No greater love than to lay one’s life down for a friend”. Who laid down their life and for whom? There is also another, slightly lighter and livelier version, which doesn’t really bring anything new. Tender Mercies tells of the rural community: “The land gave with one hand it took with another/ And it dealt out death with a third, and somehow a fourth/ My uncle’s hands gave smoke and sparks/ Like lightning bugs from an anvil perch”.

Between the Pines gives the story of the gunfight, the capture, and Lewis’ death from his perspective, and then moves into the afterlife: “I heard at my funeral/ The young’uns made quite a fuss”. Roll On reflects on his life: “When you’re bent by sin you’re a law unto yourself”. A character named Rube, the brother of Ethel, so a nephew of Lewis, is mentioned here. The track Rube tells of his ramblin’ life across the States.

This is an original and memorable piece of work, with skilful words set to music which complements it beautifully and gives it great atmosphere.