Cliff Stevens Steps Away from Blues-Rock on New Single ‘Try’

For more than a decade, Montreal guitarist Cliff Stevens has built a career in blues-rock. His new single “Try” opens a different door.

The track, a preview of a forthcoming album, moves into alternative rock, pulling from a wider set of influences that have long been present in his background—Radiohead, Tom Petty, Tears For Fears, Peter Gabriel, Smashing Pumpkins—but until now rarely surfaced so directly.

Stevens describes it as “the biggest departure from my traditional blues-rock roots” and “the riskiest blending of genres I’ve attempted.” Lyrically, the song insists on perseverance: “Try is about never giving up, no matter the circumstances or how dire your situation has become.”

The emotional weight of that message finds support in the track’s warm acoustic textures, a sound that makes clear he’s after something more than a simple genre exercise. The shift feels less like a rejection of the blues than an attempt to let other parts of his musical identity hold the center.

For an artist with a well-established catalogue and global stage experience, the change carries a certain vulnerability. “I’m curious to see how listeners respond,” Stevens says. That openness, rather than the shift itself, may be what sets “Try” apart.