Seasick Steve warms the tent with his tales of destitution, freedom and beauty

Sadly, the idyllic conditions that dominated the first two days at Balado are not present to welcome Seasick Steve to Scotland at the beginning of day three.

Instead the 68-ish-year-old has to contend with a persistent Sunday morning drizzle on the Main Stage, exclaiming in his lazy, warm drawl: "It really rainin' up here, we all gonna get wet." Steve is simply a heart-warming story, though, and a sizeable crowd are prepared to wait around in the damp to listen to his gnarled blues voice, growling guitar and touching true-life tales of stunning destitution, freedom and beauty.

He proudly shows off the first of his collection of battered, largely home-made ramshackle instruments after the fuzzy, distorted boozy opening song 'Thunderbird'.

Throughout the song he's all smiles underneath a green baseball cap and flanked only by a drummer, with flowing white locks and of similarly advanced age to Steve himself and they speed it up into a frantic slide guitar climax.

Steve produces an even more beat-up, fragile looking one-string guitar, fastened around his neck by a piece of tatty string, for second song 'Never Go West When You Should Be Heading South', a tale of a life spent trying to avoid freezing to death when sleeping and travelling in box cars across America. At the song's finish he stops to swig from his ever-present bottle of Jack Daniels, prompting more cheers of approval.

Before 'Walkin' Man' Steve states: "I need me a girl" and begins his traditional mid-set routine of going down to the front of the crowd to select a willing volunteer to be serenaded. A grinning blonde is duly selected and led up to the stage by the hand in gentlemanly fashion.She claps her hands in time to every beat of the tender, warming little song, the chords picked out gently on a genuine acoustic guitar with all six strings still in place!

Steve shares a hug with the girl, and she's led away back to her friends with a grin almost as wide as the main stage before the song continues to its finish. Before finishing with 'Doghouse Blues', he introduces his 'diddly bo' - another one-stringed creation made from a 2x4 and a sweetcorn tin and announces "T in the Park is my favourite place to play. Last time I was here I thought there was going to be a war."

The song bounces in on a fuzzy bassline and is a defiant tale of painful childhood memories and making the decision to leave his life behind and hit the road. Although the wind blows his thin, scratchy sound around, the appreciation for this honest, genuine performer from his audience is obvious.

He drags the song through false ending after false ending, each time speeding up and declaring "Now we gonna' boogie", the drummer flings a cymbal to the floor and they exit, taking a full five minutes to shake pretty close to every hand in the front row.

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