With a guitar on his back, Bay Area native Steve Pile has traveled the world, from Alaska to Austin to Africa, distilling his own hybrid of blues, rock and melodic African guitar music all topped off with a little cowboy swagger.

By the age of 5, Steve was glued to the headphones with his parents Beatles record collection. His first album purchase, at age 7, was Paul McCartney's Tug of War. It would be a few years before he would shift from air guitar to the real thing, but when it happened, bands took shape, 4-track recorders were bought to satiate his desire to put it all down for posterity, and a long musical journey began.

Strangely, when the time came to decide on a college major, Steve decided to pursue English Literature rather than music. But the music never stopped, and his band made the rounds of the venues in Eugene, Oregon, as well as a 2 year stint as a house band in Skagway, Alaska. Before long his immersion in literature began to inform his songwriting with more complex rhyme and rhythmic structure.

His first album, Overnight, was recorded in Portland, Oregon in 2002, and was a decidedly folky affair. Shortly thereafter, he relocated to Austin, Texas, where he recorded his 2nd album, Home For Right Now, with a host of Austin heavy-weights, including Brad Houser (New Bohemians, Critters Buggin') and Stephen Doster (Nancy Griffith, Will Sexton) as producer. The album framed his songs with an eclectic Americana sound.

The parallel story to this is in Africa. In 1999, Steve travelled to Gambia to study the Kora (a 21 stringed African harp). It was a short stay, but his love for West African music and rhythm continued to grow. After moving from Austin back to Sonoma County, he decided he needed to return to Gambia. This time he raised funds to purchase solar panels and earned his first production credit recording an album for his kora teacher, Jali Bakary Konteh. In addition to funding and producing the album, Steve also plays guitar, keyboards, and drums.
The album, Konteh Kunda, was internationally released in February, 2010 and gained glowing reviews in popular music publications such as the FADER and Mondomix.

The trip also spawned the idea for the Konteh Kunda School of Music, a place for musical tourists and locals to be immersed in the riches of Mandinka Music and Culture. The school will serve the dual purpose of preserving Mandinka culture and creating a sustainable flow of money into the local musical community. Steve is currently fundraising to build a structure on Jali Bakary's compound to house the school.

Various tours have seen him sharing the stage with the likes of Richard Thompson, Peter Case, Jackie Greene, and even a double bill with Ramblin' Jack Elliott. His songs have been featured in two short films, notably "Crossing" by Riad Galayini, which starred James Morrison (24, Jarhead) and garnered many indie film awards. He also contributed to a short mock-spaghetti western entitled "Enter the Moustache."

Now back in the San Francisco Bay Area, Steve's sound has shifted from the Americana he nurtured in Austin to a more electric cross-cultural stew of styles. The new album, Got It Right (as the Steve Pile Band), is slated for release in Fall 2010, and will continue to explore those new directions.