Chris Smither
7:30 Thursday September 6th at Pioneer Place on Fifth
$25
June 19, 2012 marked the release of Hundred Dollar Valentine (Signature Sounds) – and this, Chris Smither Chris Smither’s 12th studio record, is a masterwork. It sports the unmistakable sound he has made his trademark: fingerpicked acoustic guitar and evocative sonic textures meshed with spare, brilliant songs, delivered in a bone-wise, hard-won voice. It is also his first recording to feature all Smither-penned, original songs. Along with longtime producer, David “Goody” Goodrich, other featured musicians on Hundred Dollar Valentine are drummer Billy Conway (Morphine, Treat Her Right), Jimmy Fitting on harmonica, and Goodrich’s ex-Groovasaurus bandmates, Anita Suhanin (vocals) and violinist Ian Kennedy (Page/Plant, Lemonheads, Juliana Hatfield, Peter Wolf, Susan Tedeschi).
Having distilled his own signature sound of blues and folk for over 40 years, Chris Smither is truly an American original. A profound songwriter, Chris continues to draw deeply from the blues, American folk music, modern poets and philosophers with this 14th record of his lengthy career. From his early days as the New Orleans transplant in the Boston folk scene, through his wilderness years, to his reemergence in the 1990s as one of America’s most distinctive acoustic performers, Chris Smither continues to hone his distinctive sound. He has always traveled his own road, eschewing sophisticated studio tricks and staying true to his musical vision. He has developed and maintained loyal friendships over the years with kindred-spirited musicians like Bonnie Raitt and the late Stephen Bruton while at the same time throughout his career been inspired by and inspiring to today’s next-generation of musicians. Reviewers continue to praise his dazzling guitar work, gravelly voice and songwriting. The New York Times: With a weary, well-traveled voice and a serenely intricate finger-picking style, Mr. Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate.
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QUOTES:
NEW YORK TIMES: With a weary, well-traveled voice and a serenely intricate fingerpicking style, Mr. Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: With Smither, the singer-songwriter craft remains in good hands.
INDEPENDENT (UK): Chris Smither has been steadily releasing classy albums for decades, honing his craft as a songwriter of thoughtful ruminations on and acute observations about life’s bitter ironies.
GLASGOW HERALD: Smither’s momentum as a rockin’-thumbed guitar picker with an insistent and fully-integrated tapping foot has all the hallmarks of a truly formidable one-man band but he’s equally impressive, perhaps even more so, when singing a slow blues in his been-round-the-block voice to his guitar’s stinging, singing steel string moan
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: His ability to take the emotion at the heart of a song, make it transparent and pass it on to the listener is unmatched. Smither’s rich, deep, emotion-charged voice and his exquisite guitar playing imbue these simple thoughts with a profundity forged out of genuine passion.
MONTREAL GAZETTE: With his Southern-drawl, tapping foot in constant motion and fingers pulling fluid blues patterns from his acoustic guitar, Smither is an engaging, sometimes intense singer-songwriter who can convert almost any audience he sits down in front of.
Tickets are available at the Pioneer Place Box Office.
Call 320-203-0331
www.ppfive.com