Published on Aug 14, 2000
The more I listen to Chris Smither, the more I like his music.
No, wait, scratch that. The more I listen to Chris Smither, the
more I
love his music.
If you thought that Smither’s last studio release,
Drive You Home Again, was a show-stopper, then you’ve never
heard Smither where he’s the most comfortable – and that’s on a
stage. His first live recording,
Live As I’ll Ever Be, is the next best thing to being in the
front row at your local watering hole, listening to Smither pull
notes out of his guitar that make it sound like more than one
person playing and watching his foot stamp out the rhythm of the
song.
Smither is an amazing songwriter and musician, something that
was proven to me on
Drive You Home Again. But
Live As I’ll Ever Be just hammers the point home with such
incredible force. Tracks like “Hold On I,” “Link Of Chain,”
“Winsome Smile” and his absolutely killer cover of Robert Johnson’s
“Dust My Broom” make it obvious that this guy should be an absolute
superstar. His voice is as rich as a fine whiskey, with enough
rough edges to prove he’s lived the life he sings about in some of
his songs. And his guitar playing? If I didn’t know better, I’d
have sworn he had a backing guitarist filling in some of the notes.
But this disc (recorded around the country and in Ireland over the
last few years) is all Smither — and we should drop to our knees
in thanks.
If there’s any complaint I have with this disc, it’s that it
almost seems to be too rich; sometimes, listening to the entire
disc in one sitting is like eating the whole chocolate cake while
barely stopping to breathe. Let this disc be your guilty pleasure;
at least you don’t have to hit the treadmill after listening to
it.
Smither even manages to bring life into a song I thought needed
a little trimming off
Drive You Home Again — namely, “No Love Today.” His
explanation about the root of a part of the song actually made me
understand why he used the New Orleans horns on the studio version
of the song. (Actually, I take my last comment back — my only
complaint with this disc is that I honestly wish there had been
more examples of Smither telling the audience a little history
about the songs.
So why isn’t Smither a superstar, besides the fact that
well-written, well-played folk music isn’t something the kids can
slam dance to? I don’t know, but I do know that if there were any
justice in this world, Smither would be as acclaimed a songwriter
and musician as someone like Bob Dylan.
Live As I’ll Ever Be is a disc that does the unthinkable —
it tops a disc which was just as good. Smither deserves a far
better fate than to be folk music’s best kept secret — and this
disc is just the megaphone he needs to get his messages across.