Chris Smither - Live As I'll Ever Be
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Chris SmitherEdition: Music CD
Format: Live
CD Release Date: 2000-07-18
Music Label: Hightone Records
Soundtracks:
- Intro - Chris Smither,
- Hold in I - Chris Smither,
- The Devil's Real
- Link of Chain
- No Love Today (Intro) - Chris Smither,
- No Love Today
- Caveman
- Winsome Smile
- Slow Surprise
- Help Me Now
- Small Revelations
- Can't Shake These Blues
- Dust My Broom - Chris Smither, Johnson, Robert [01
- I Am the Ride
- Up on the Lowdown
- Killing the Blues - Chris Smither, Salley, Roly
Free Music Notes for Live As I'll Ever Be
Free Music Review: Chris On Stage and Stomping That Foot
Hit: 5 Stars
If I were to ask someone, in the year 2008, to name a male folk singer from the 1960's I would assume that if I were to get an answer to that question that the name would be Bob Dylan. And that would be a good and appropriate choice. One can endlessly dispute whether or not Dylan was (or wanted to be) the voice of the Generation of '68 but in terms of longevity and productivity he fits the bill as a known quality. However, there were a slew of other male folk singers who tried to find their niche in the folk milieu and who, like Dylan, today continue to produce work and to perform. The artist under review Chris Smithers is one such singer/songwriter.
I do not know if Chris Smithers, like his contemporary Bob Dylan, started out wanting to be the king of the hill among male folk singers but he certainly had some things going for him. He plays that signature blue guitar for all it is worth of such covers as the Elmore James' classic Dust My Broom yet can turn it down several notches for a song like Killing The Blues and then goes softer on reflective songs like Small Revelations. Moreover he is as capable as a songwriter as any of writing of longing, lost love, thoughts of mortality and...being stupid in the world. Witness No Love Today on that last point. Then turn it up a notch with a bittersweet song like Caveman. Yes, Chris had the tool to go out and slay the dragons of the folk world. This is his five star work with the benefits and drawbacks any live performance. That work may not be well known outside the precincts of the graying folk world, but it should be.
Live As I'll Ever Be Poster
Live compilation for the blues revival, guitarist, singer/songwriter, recorded over a period of four years, includes 14 tracks from 8 different shows. Smither's songs have been covered by such artists as Bonnie Raitt.The accomplished Smither, after 30-odd years of performing and recording, has carved out a distinctive musicality and a close relationship with his audience. This live record makes letter-perfect use of both attributes. A far cry from 1999's excellent but instrumentally diverse Drive You Home Again, this is a spare, intimate recording featuring just guitar and voice. But what a guitar, and oh, what a voice. Gravelly, light, and tuneful, with a plaintive nasal pinch that bleeds wisdom and salvation, he rhymes his storylike lyrics around effortless guitar twangs and a simple tap meter, entertaining very lucky and appreciative live audiences with guile and an astute sense of observation. Songs like "Cave Man," from 1997's Small Revelations, find an easy soulfulness in their unadorned settings, and show off just how skilled Smither's songwriting has become. Other tunes leave an endearing impression of hopeful whimsy, as tracks like "Winsome Smile" trace a lover's almost pathological grip on his precious melancholy. Smither's deserved popularity has landed him in larger and larger venues for the last several years, but this disc reveals the musician's heart is still grounded in those intimate coffeehouses, bars, and sidewalk caf?s, where acoustic songcraft has always flourished. --Matthew Cooke
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