Time Stands Still
Signature Sounds
Smither is a true-blue blues journeyman, having started playing coffeehouses in Boston in the mid-’60s. Alcohol waylaid his recording career in the ’70s, but he emerged stronger for it and returned to the studio.
In the same league as John Hammond, he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves. “Time” is his second album for Northampton, Mass.-based Signature Sounds, a small folk label spun off from a studio, and it’s a nice departure in that it was recorded in three days with backing from producer/guitarist David “Goody” Goodrich (who helmed Smither’s last two studio discs) and drummer Zak Trojano (of Amherst’s Rusty Belle).
The trio lineup was born of necessity: A music festival in the Netherlands invited Smither to play but told him they didn’t hire solo acts (his usual live modus operandi). A soundboard recording of the show was so impressive that it was decided the next album should recreate the event.
The result is his most stripped-down record in a long time. Trojano’s minimalist drumming plus the lack of bass allows Goodrich’s array of guitars (including outstanding electric slide on three tracks) to shine atop Smither’s unique acoustic fingerstyle, which grew out of his childhood ukelele-playing days.
“Time” boasts a great batch of songs (eight new originals and three covers: Bob Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”; the 1928 obscurity “Miner’s Blues,” by white-blues pioneer Frank Hutchison; and Mark Knopfler’s “Madame Geneva’s”).
Tracks
1. Don’t Call Me Stranger
2. Time Stands Still
3. Surprise, Surprise
4. I Don’t Know
5. Call Yourself
6. Old Man Down
7. I Told You So
8. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
9. Miner’s Blues
10. Someone Like Me
11. Madame Geneva’s
Total time: 44:19
External links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store
