Sitting in the back of the Lions Community Hall, you can usually smell the faint scent of floor wax and history. It is a humble room for a man who once shared the MTV stage with global icons, but that is the beauty of the Kingsville circuit. The man who dazzled the crowd at last year’s Kingsville Folk Music Festival is making his way back to our neck of the woods.
Steve Poltz is not your standard folk troubadour. He is a chaotic force of nature who once sang an impromptu track about Kingsville being the sexiest place on the planet. And he did it with a straight face. He is returning to Canada’s southernmost municipality this Friday for a special Road to FolkFest concert.
The gig hits the stage at the Lions Community Hall, a venue that feels more like a living room than a concert space. But that suits Poltz. He is an incredible solo performer who possesses an innate ability to improv a song at the drop of a hat. You shout a word, he gives you a bridge and a chorus.
Most people know him as the other half of the songwriting powerhouse that fueled the 90s folk-pop explosion. He co-wrote the 1996 hit single "You Were Meant For Me" from the Jewel album *Pieces of You*. That record was everywhere. You couldn't buy a coffee without hearing it.
Poltz remembers his first meeting with the pop princess with a clarity that suggests it happened yesterday. It was a chance encounter that changed the trajectory of his career and the Billboard charts.
“I was in a coffee shop in San Francisco and she was the one who served my coffee that day, as luck would have it,” Poltz says. “I think she thought I was flirting with her a little because we started talking about songwriting. Our relationship just went from there and we starting writing together. It was a fun experience and very easy to work with her. We always had a give and take way to writing songs.”
That "give and take" resulted in one of the most enduring songs of the decade. But the partnership was not just confined to the recording studio. Poltz ended up frequently opening for her on massive tours, co-writing more tracks and eventually appearing in the iconic music video for "You Were Meant For Me".
If you grew up with a television, you saw that video. It was a study in 90s longing. Jewel and Poltz appeared together in numerous scenes, most of them depicting how both of them want to be together but are always separated by the physical world.
In one specific scene, Poltz tries to reach for Jewel’s hand. But a curtain appears between them, separating their hands in a moment of pure cinematic frustration. It is a bit on the nose, sure, but it worked.
I was in a coffee shop in San Francisco and she was the one who served my coffee that day, as luck would have it. I think she thought I was flirting with her a little because we started talking about songwriting.
In another scene, Jewel lies in front of Poltz. Instead of reaching for him, she moves away. She leaves Poltz with his arms raised towards her, reaching for a ghost. It is the kind of visual storytelling that feels dated now, but in 1997, it was the gold standard.
The industry noticed. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video in 1997. It was a massive win for an artist who started out serving coffee to the guy who would help her write her biggest hit.
The relationship earned Jewel a number one hit on several US charts. It also secured Top 2 positions on Billboard charts in the US and Canada. Poltz was the secret weapon behind the curtain.
But Poltz did not just sit back and collect royalty cheques. In the years since that whirlwind of fame, he has toured endlessly. He is a road dog in the truest sense, releasing a dozen solo albums along the way.
The road is not always kind. During a show in the fall of 2014, the unthinkable happened. Poltz experienced a stroke while performing on stage in Wilmington, Delaware.
It was a terrifying moment. Poltz temporarily lost his vision while in the middle of a set. Most people would have dropped their guitar. He continued to play, entirely unaware of the impending attack that was shutting down his systems.
“I was on stage and all of a sudden I couldn’t see anything,” Poltz remembers. “When I went to get this treated, they said ‘we have good news and bad news. The good news is we don’t know what caused this. The bad news is we don’t know what caused this.’ It took a couple of weeks of recovery, but everything is fine now. You know what, that’s how I want to die—on stage playing and doing what I love to do.”
That level of commitment is rare. To want to go out in the middle of a G-chord is the mark of a man who has no Plan B. And we are the beneficiaries of that singular focus.
If there is a critique to be made, it is that Poltz’s penchant for storytelling can sometimes derail the musical momentum of his sets. He gets lost in the weeds of a narrative. But then he hits a note or drops a punchline, and you realize the "messiness" is the point.
Poltz is ready for his return to Kingsville when he kicks off the Road to FolkFest Concert Series at the Lions Community Hall. The hall is located at 23 Mill Street West. The show starts at 8pm on Friday, Jan. 19.
Tickets are $25 each. You can pick them up at Guardian Drug and Symphony Stables in Wheatley. They are also available at Fletcher’s Cleaners in Leamington and Box Office Video in Kingsville.
And if you are more of a digital native, you can find them on the Kingsville Folk Music Festival website. It is a small price to pay for a guy who has lived through the MTV era and a literal stroke on stage.
The Road to FolkFest concerts are more than just gigs. They are fundraising events for the annual festival. They are held throughout the region in Wheatley and Kingsville to keep the lights on for the main event.
And let’s be honest, we need more of this. We need the performers who aren't afraid to look the audience in the eye and tell a story that might not have an ending.
Poltz is a reminder that the best music often comes from the most unlikely places. Like a coffee shop in San Francisco. Or a community hall in a small town in Ontario.
So, show up. Grab a seat. And hope he sings about how sexy the town is again. Because in the middle of a Canadian January, we could all use the flattery.
