Double treat, no tricks in this Halloween-special double bill of two spooky good singer-songwriters, Loudon Wainwright and Chris Smither. Loudon Wainwright III has not only spawned a slew of terrific songs since his emergence as a "New Dylan" in the seventies, he has also spawned his own musical dynasty, including son Rufus, and daughters Martha and Lucy. Along the way, he racked up some choice cameos in TV and film, including M*A*S*H, Knocked Up, Elizabethtown, The Aviator, Big Fish and many more. His latest project is a double-album tribute to another musician entirely. Called High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, it's a celebration of the old-time country banjo player, who died in 1931.
"unifies the two sides of Loudon Wainwright: sentimental wiseass folkie and tragicomic character actor." (Rolling Stone review of High Wide and Handsome)
"Back in the old days,” muses resilient troubadour Chris Smither, “writing new songs and making new albums were just chores. My priority was, and still is, performing live. I guess I still write the songs and make the records so that I can go out and play – except that now I actually look forward to it. I’ve learned how to do it, and I’m very eager to get stuff recorded once I’ve written it.”
Recorded in only three days, Smither's brand new release Time Stands Still is just the eleventh studio album of a career that now spans over four decades. Time Stands Still (Signature Sounds/Mighty Albert) is both pensive and visceral – an album whose songs alternately ponder life’s mysteries in some moments, and let them lie undisturbed in others. Featuring eight new original compositions and a song apiece from Bob Dylan, Mark Knopfler, and 1920s country-blues songster Frank Hutchison, Time Stands Still’s immediate, intimate sound is the direct result of one gig, and the challenge it presented.
"Through the decades, Mr. Smither has taken the blues in a direction entirely his own: stoic existential ruminations sung in a pained, weathered moan and set to quietly virtuosic guitar. There was always unpretentious philosophy in the deep blues, and Mr. Smither has followed it toward his own quiet epiphanies. (New York Times)
Chris Smither's songs seem so casual – everyday language drawled over fine blues fingerpicking and the happy tip-tap of his shoes – that it's easy to overlook how artful and deep they are. Smither is now at the peak of his creative powers. (Acoustic Guitar)
Double treat, no tricks in this Halloween-special double bill of two spooky good singer-songwriters, Loudon Wainwright and Chris Smither. Loudon Wainwright III has not only spawned a slew of terrific songs since his emergence as a "New Dylan" in the seventies, he has also spawned his own musical dynasty, including son Rufus, and daughters Martha and Lucy. Along the way, he racked up some choice cameos in TV and film, including M*A*S*H, Knocked Up, Elizabethtown, The Aviator, Big Fish and many more. His latest project is a double-album tribute to another musician entirely. Called High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, it's a celebration of the old-time country banjo player, who died in 1931.
"Back in the old days,” muses resilient troubadour Chris Smither, “writing new songs and making new albums were just chores. My priority was, and still is, performing live. I guess I still write the songs and make the records so that I can go out and play – except that now I actually look forward to it. I’ve learned how to do it, and I’m very eager to get stuff recorded once I’ve written it.”
