Guitarist Stephen "Lil' Stevie" Low has a very unique role in Singapore's blues history. He's the first guy to run a blues-only record shop here (it lasted briefly in 1995), he's the first guy to set up a titular blues joint here (Roomful of Blues, which has been open since early 1997), and he's one of the best blues guitarists in the country. But if you mention any of these "firsts" to him, he'll probably back off and twist the conversation around and act a lot more interested in "what you can do for blues." That's his personal Pepsi challenge to anyone who questions his credentials -- What have YOU done for the blues lately? (If the answer is nothing, then the least you can do is buy a beer to support his club.)

Stephen has done his share for the local blues scene -- he's tried to make ROB a platform for young Singaporean bands, he's put together blues bands, he brought in Guitar Shorty for a concert in 1998 -- but it's all come at a high price: punishingly slow business, fall-outs with musicians and customers, and an alienation from the rest of the local blues scene. Then again, things are downright peachy compared to when I first talked to him in August 1997, when he was telling everybody that he had given up on playing music altogether. Since then, he's had a brief run as a bandleader with The Soul Searchers, he continues to jam (and turn locals on to West Coast blues), and he's got idealistic business plans ranging from a "Blues Artist Residency" program to screening the TV series Roots at his club. ("How else are Singaporeans going to understand black music?" he says.)

Classically trained on guitar, Stephen picked up his first blues chops as the rhythm guitarist in Calcutta Blues Experiment, and later formed his own group, Blues Train. Unlike most of his peers, Steve eschewed the usual blues-rock idoltry and instead turned to guys like Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, Little Charlie Baty, and Anson Funderburgh. Unfortunately, purists have a hard time keeping a band together in this town, and for Stephen it's been a struggle to maintain a reliable band that can play his blues of choice. Furthermore, his unwavering commitment to music has sometimes left him judgemental of other players and businesses who are cashing in on the "blues" label. At the least, it has cost ROB some business, but Stephen keeps fighting through it. Today, Roomful of Blues (which moved downtown to Prinsep Street in late 1999) finally appears ready to become a major blues draw in Singapore. For Stephen, it's been an uphill, mostly solo battle full of sacrifice -- and he wouldn't have it any other way.