In the ’90s, Steve Arvey heard Chicago blues musician Microwave Dave play a cigar box guitar and became captivated by the instrument’s snappy, metallic sound. Decades later, Arvey is showcasing this guitar and its techniques not only in Florida, but across the globe.The Chicago native’s musical roots run deep, as Arvey’s jazz-loving father met his mother at a jazz club in Chicago where she was a singer. Arvey began exploring blues music in high school and was heavily influenced by Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. When Arvey moved to Florida in 1978, he played bass with Bo Diddley and accompanied saxophonist Robert Hunter, before pursuing solo projects with cigar box guitars. While Arvey describes his primary instrument as “a poor man’s guitar,” he says it opens the door for new musical phrasing and distinct melodies. “You make your own guitar instead of a rounded body that takes a lot more work,” he says. These guitars originated in the late 1800s through trade between Cuba and New Orleans to seek out cheaper instruments, Arvey says. Cubans produced guitars made with old cigar boxes for resonators, and Gulf Coast trade prompted deep influences in blues and folk music. “It’s more like a natural, farm-to-table thing—a movement of homemade instruments from all over the world,” Arvey says. He plays a wide variety of music and style on these guitars, citing their unique sound and ability to compose creative melodies with just three strings. Arvey has participated in the Sarasota Cigar Box Guitar Festival for the past 10 years and established Bradenton Cigar Box Guitar Festival in 2018. “You have these builders that follow these bands and events, and they set up their booths,” he says, highlighting the dedicated community work that contributes to successful festivals and turnouts. Aside from the Sarasota Blues Festival, Arvey plays at events all over the world, such as the Dutch Cigar Box Guitar Festival, Swiss Alps Cigar Box Guitar Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Melbourne Blues Festival. This June, Arvey played concerts in the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland as part of his Blues Across Europe tour. While in many small European towns, Arvey says a commonality is how everyone loves hearing and playing American music. “Everybody sings along, and it’s something we take for granted here in the United States,” he says. Arvey would like to see more musicians playing cigar box guitars and that there are ample opportunities across the globe for this type of music. He says although there’s a large niche in Sarasota of mostly cover bands and listeners who want to hear the same songs, Florida’s receptiveness to music encourages a new wave of sound. For example, Arvey brought in blues-rock singer Ghalia Volt from Belgium to Sarasota last year, and she now tours across the U.S. “I’m very happy with how things have played out over the last ten years in Sarasota and Bradenton with the cigar box guitar community,” he says.  SRQ