Glad-handed

Chris Smither - Phoenix, Exeter, 1st March, 2012

A short but appreciative post to comment on how memorable it was to see Chris Smither perform so many of his impressive, career-spanning songs last night. He played two sets and it was simple yet stunning: acoustic guitar, vocal and Chris' foot percussion - boots taped on a board beneath a microphone.

His distinctly finger-picked blues tell diverse, convincing stories. The emotions, witticisms and insights of the lyrics produce narratives that truly delight in this live context because there is the immediacy of performance bolstered by Chris' occasional backdrop paintings before he plays them.  It was especially pleasing to hear quite a few new numbers that will appear on his next album due for release in June. I'm lousy at remembering the song titles of these, so haven't. There was one slow, pure blues that I particularly look forward to hearing again..

Chris seemed to have a fine time despite the classic gentility of the English audience: static listening with brisk but enthusiastic applauding at the end of each song. It's not that it wasn't obvious he was appreciated, but it was such a polite and passive engagement. There were times I wanted to whoop and holler, but I restrained myself: the weight of demur behaviour like a heavy protocol. Perhaps I just chickened out. But I didn't sit still.

Such rebellion.

Chris commented on how much he enjoyed playing at such gigs and meeting with people to sign cds and glad-hand, as he put it. During the interval I got my Lost and Found cd as I mentioned in my previous post anticipating attending this performance, and there was Chris to sign and to shake hands. I spoke with him briefly, asking if he played his very early material and he said he didn't often as it was hard to remember. It doesn't seem much to go on, but he exuded sincere warmth and gentlemanly manners - certainly none of the more negative connotations in some definitions of 'glad-handing'!

And now for the punchline. As I said, whilst Chris was signing my cd I asked if he played his early material and he replied how he didn't. But there on my copy of his 2011 Live recordings cd - had I bothered to look - was 12th track Time To Go Home, my favourite song from I'm A Stranger Too, his 1970 album and the one I mentioned in my previous post.  Had I bothered to look, I could have asked......

Next time.

Chris Smither - Time Stands Still

Fingerpickin' Goodness

Ahead of seeing the great American folk blues singer/songwriter and fingerpicking expert Chris Smither next week, I'll comment on his last release Time Stands Still from 2009 [there is a live collection Lost and Found, 2011, available only at gigs so I hope to get mine next week too].

I came across Smither relatively recently, and picked for my Top Fifty his twofer that combines his brilliant first two albums I'm A Stranger Too and Don't It Drag On [1970/1971] - the folk oriented and beautifully played  songs very much in the more British tradition of John Martyn, Bert Jansch and Steve Tilston. His later work, and this album, reflect the blues tradition and have seen his earlier warbling voice drop towards a rougher baritone. Opening track Don't Call Me A Stranger is an electric foot-stomping dirt blues with Smither declaring with simple honesty I ain't evil/I'm just bad. The title track picks up the pace on the foot tapping and has Smither in more familar fingerpicking acoustic mood. Third Surprise Surprise is a rock'n'roll blues that tackles our world economy with banks are failin'/you start wailin' and surprise surprise the money's gone blunt reality - and there's some comic mockery of those turning to religion to look for another kind of failed bail-out! Smither's self-penned songs, all but 3 of the 11 on this album, are worldly wise and played with little extraneous interference - the guitar and voice authority all that is needed to carry such effective ideas and tunes.

My favourite on this album is one of the three covers, Dylan's It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry. I know I like this because it reflects the earlier Smither that I do so adore, and here the guitar playing is in his folk mode, and it reminds me of the the sliding fret-work [not slide guitar] and softer wavering vocal of Time To Go Home from I'm A Stranger Too, though there are many songs from those first two albums that have this signature sound. Another gem is the slow blues Old Man Down, a meloncholic reflection with 'ambient guitar' adding to the plaintive tone about the death of his dad: it's time to lay the old man down.