BOSTON, Mass. — Blues-folk icon Chris Smither has
long been revered for both his guitar prowess and his way with a lyric,
inspiring artists from Bonnie Raitt and John
Mayall to Emmylou Harris and Diana
Krall. He toured as one of the original monsters of folk with
Dave Alvin, Tom Russell and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
in 1998, and continues to live up to the title with accolades such
as Mojo magazine’s five-star review for his 2012
release, Hundred Dollar Valentine. Smither still makes
music and tours regularly; his April 2014 appearances at the revered New
Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival earned him a spot
on Rolling Stone Senior Editor David
Fricke’s Personal Top 10 list of best festival
performances.
As Smither
marks his 50th year of music-making in 2014, the New Orleans-raised troubadour
takes a look back at his career with Still on the Levee,
a two-CD retrospective releasing July 22 on Mighty Albert/Signature Sounds. He’s also releasing
his full lyric collection as a book titled Chris Smither Lyrics
1966-2012, and in September, Signature Sounds will
salute him with Link of Chain, a tribute album featuring
contributions by Raitt, Loudon Wainwright III, Dave Alvin, Patty Larkin,
Josh Ritter, Peter Case, Tim O’Brien and other friends and admirers
from his beloved Boston music scene and beyond.
Reconnecting
with his roots, Smither recorded Still on the Levee at New Orleans’
Music Shed with longtime producer David
Goodrich. Their aim was to give fresh perspective to a selection of
songs from his vast career — from “Devil Got Your Man,” his first composition, to recent originals. Among
those who joined him on the project are famed pianist Allen
Toussaint, members of the band Morphine and fellow
folk-Americana artists Wainwright, Kris Delmhorst and Rusty
Belle. It’s also a family affair, with backing-vocal contributions by Smither’s
sister, Catherine Norr, and fiddling by his daughter,
Robin.
On his 16th album, Smither’s mellow,
well-weathered tenor carries a mix of confidence, humility and humor. He’s
aware, yet unafraid of his mortality, regarding the years gone by and the ones
to come with the grace of a man who knows he can’t change the past or predict
the future. His fingers remain as supple as his voice, effortlessly delivering
the other half of his signature sound: the back-porch feel of intricate acoustic
blues picking accompanied by his own boot-heel-on-wood rhythms.
It’s a sound that easily conjures the
ghosts of Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin’
Hopkins, artists who captivated him early on. Smither, the son of a Tulane University
professor, first learned to play his mother’s ukulele, instructed by
his Uncle Howard. “He told me if you knew three chords, you
could play a lot of the songs you heard on the radio,” Smither recalls. “And if
you knew four chords, you could pretty much rule the world.”
When he heard Hopkins and Hurt, his
passion for the blues fully ignited. Even now, he claims his elemental style is
“one-third John Hurt, one-third Lightnin’ Hopkins and one-third me.”
That’s the sound Raitt fell in love
with when they met in the Cambridge folk scene; Smither headed
there in 1965 after abandoning his college anthropology studies at the urging of
early mentor Eric von Schmidt. Labeling Smither as “my
Eric Clapton,” Raitt turned his “Love You Like A Man” into
“Love Me Like A Man” and made it a signature song. Their friendship endures to
this day; of course, she lends her version to the forthcoming tribute
album.
Diana Krall, Esther Phillips,
Rosalie Sorrels and John Mayall are among other
artists who have covered his work; Emmylou Harris sang his
“Slow Surprise” on The Horse Whisperer film soundtrack.
Several of Smither’s songs have made their way onto large and small screens; one
even inspired an entire film, The Ride, for which he
provided the rest of the soundtrack as well.
Not that it’s always been smooth
sailing for Smither. Like most creative souls, from his late friend
Townes Van Zandt to inspirations such as Tims
Hardin and Buckley, Smither battled his share of
demons, from label woes to the liquid kind. After recording a couple of albums
in the ’70s, he slowed his touring considerably.
In 1984 he returned to music full time,
releasing his album It Ain’t Easy. A consistent string
of acclaimed albums has followed, including 1993’s
award-winning Happier Blue and 1997’s Small
Revelations, which led to the Monsters of Folk
tour.
Raitt joined Smither on 2003’s Train
Home, duetting on his cover of Dylan’s “Desolation Row.”
Another of the album’s tracks, “Seems So Real,” earned Smither a Song of
the Year Award from Folk Alliance
International.
“Leave The Light On,” the title track
from Smither’s 2006 CD, ends both Still on the Levee discs. A quietly
extraordinary piece with accompaniment by Rusty Belle, the
first version is a lilting, almost jaunty take. The second corrals the
devastating power often hiding just beneath the surface of his songs. Over a
slow electric groove, Smither delivers an aching duet with Kate
Lorenz; his lines include this stanza:
I may live to be a hundred, I was born in
’44
31 to go, but
I ain’t keepin’ score
I've been
left for dead before, but I still fight on
Don’t wait
up, leave the light on
I’ll be home
soon.
The San Francisco
Chronicle recently observed, “Smither continues to give ample proof
that he's matured into one of roots music's most passionate, soulful songsmiths
and interpreters.”
With Still
on the Levee, that proof has become irrefutable.
