Chris Smither
Encyclopedia
Chris Smither is an American
folk
/blues
singer, guitarist
, and songwriter
. His music draws deeply from the blues, American folk music
, modern poets and philosophers.
and the Rio Grande Valley
in Texas
before settling in New Orleans when Chris was three years old. He grew up in New Orleans, and lived briefly in Paris
where he and his twin sister attended French public school. It was in Paris that Smither got his first guitar - one his father brought him from Spain
. Shortly after, the family returned to New Orleans where his father taught at Tulane University
.
In 1960, Smither and two friends entered and won a folk “Battle of the Bands
” at the New Orleans Saenger Theatre. Two years later, Smither graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans and went on to attend the University of the Americas
in Mexico City
planning to study anthropology
. It was there that a friend played Smither the Lightnin' Hopkins
' record “Blues in My Bottle”. After one year in Mexico, Smither returned to New Orleans where he attended Tulane for one year and discovered Mississippi John Hurt
’s music through the Blues at Newport 1963 album on Vanguard Records
. Hurt and Hopkins would become cornerstone influences on Smither’s own music.
In 1964, Smither flew to New York City
two days prior to boarding the SS United States
for the five-day transatlantic voyage to Paris for his Junior Year Abroad program. While in New York, he stopped at The Gaslight Cafe
to see his hero, Mississippi John Hurt. Once in Paris, Smither often spent time playing his guitar instead of attending classes.
Smither returned to New Orleans in 1965. With a few clothes and his guitar, he soon took off for Florida
to meet another musical hero, Eric von Schmidt
. Smither arrived uninvited at von Schmidt’s door; Von Schmidt welcomed Smither in, and upon listening to him play, advised him to go north to seek a place in the burgeoning folk scene in New York City
or Cambridge, Massachusetts
. Smither followed this advice, and arrived at Club 47 in Harvard Square
several weeks later only to find von Schmidt performing. Von Schmidt invited Smither on stage to play three songs.
, and in 1968 music photographer David Gahr’s book, The Face of Folk Music featured Smither’s picture.
By 1969, after living in several places around Cambridge, Smither moved to Garfield Street in Cambridge and often visited Dick Waterman
's house where Fred McDowell
, Son House
and other blues legends were known to congregate. It was there that Smither first performed his song "Love You Like A Man" for Waterman's friend, Bonnie Raitt
. That summer, he appeared at the Philadelphia Folk Festival
for the first time.
In 1970, he released his first album I'm A Stranger, Too! on Poppy Records, followed by Don’t It Drag On the next year. He recorded a follow up, Honeysuckle Dog, in 1973 for United Artists Records
but it was never released as around the same time the record label was purchased by Transamerica, which culled over half the UA roster of artists (including Smither) shortly before putting the label out of business altogether. In 2004, the never-released Honeysuckle Dog was licensed by Tomato Records
. Despite being dropped from the record label, Smither continued to tour, becoming a fixture in the New England folk clubs.
In 1972, a longstanding working relationship with Bonnie Raitt took shape as Raitt's cover
of "Love Me Like a Man" appeared on her second album Give It Up. Raitt has since made it a signature song of her live performances, and the song has been included on several of her live albums and collections. She has openly expressed admiration for Smither's songwriting and guitar playing, once calling Smither "my Eric Clapton
." In 1973, Raitt covered Smither's song "I Feel The Same" on her Takin' My Time
album.
Following this mixed early success, Smither's recording and songwriting career had a long fallow period while he struggled with personal issues. In his official biography, Smither is quoted: "I was basically drunk for 12 years, and somehow I managed to climb out of it; I don't know why."
Smither began to re-emerge as a performer in the late 1970s, and gained a few press notices. In 1979, he was featured in Eric von Schmidt and Jim Rooney's book, Baby Let Me Follow You Down, and the next year in the UK's Melody Maker
magazine.
In 1984, Smither's belated third album, It Ain’t Easy was released on Adelphi Records
. In 1987, author Linda Barnes
’ book “A Trouble of Fools” was published. This is the first in a series of 11 (to-date) novels featuring the private investigator
Carlotta Carlysle who is a big Chris Smither fan, and all of which include some reference to Chris Smither.
Smither recorded his next album, Another Way To Find You, in front of a live audience at Soundtrack Studio in Boston and in 1991 released it on Flying Fish Records
. Later that year he received a Boston Music Award. Two years later, he was invited to compose music for a documentary on Southern folk artists and met Southern folk artist Mose T
.
In 1993, Smither recorded and released his fifth album, Happier Blue (Flying Fish), which earned Smither a National American Independent Record Distributors NAIRD award. Another two years later, he released Up On The Lowdown (Hightone Records
), which was recorded at the Hit Shack in Austin, Texas
. This was the first of three records produced by Stephen Bruton
. Also that year, the Chris Smither Songbook I was published.
In 1996 he began recording live concerts in the US and Ireland for what would later become a live CD. The next year, he released his seventh album, Small Revelations (Hightone), and filmed an instructional guitar video for Happy Traum
’s Homespun Tapes in Woodstock, NY.
In 1997 Smither's music was used exclusively on the entire score of the short film, The Ride, directed by John Flanders and produced by Flanders's company, RoughPine Productions. Flanders plays a folk-singer in the film who is largely influenced by Smither. The Ride won the Audience Best Film Award at the 2002 Moscow Film Festival.
1998 was a year of small breakthroughs and the start of a fertile songwriting and recording period for Smither. HighTone Records
reissued Another Way To Find You and Happier Blue and Jorma Kaukonen
invited Smither to teach at his Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio
. In addition, Smither toured with Dave Alvin
, Ramblin' Jack Elliott
and Tom Russell
as Hightone’s "Monsters of Folk" tour, and Emmylou Harris
recorded his song "Slow Surprise", for the Horse Whisperer
soundtrack CD.
In 1999, Smither released Drive You Home Again (HighTone Records
), and Keys to Tetuan by Israeli novelist Moshe Benarroch was published with a line from Smither's song I Am The Ride on the opening page. Also in 1999 he went to New Zealand and played at the Sweetwaters Music Festival
.
2000 brought the release of another CD, Live As I’ll Ever Be (HighTone Records
), comprising the live recordings made two years earlier. His song "No Love Today" was featured in the Bravo network program Tale Lights. The following year, songwriter Peter Case
invited Smither to be part of a Mississippi John Hurt
tribute record for which he contributed the opening track, “Frankie and Albert”.
In 2003, Train Home was released on Hightone. In 2004, jazz singer Diana Krall
covered “Love Me Like A Man” on her CD, The Girl in the Other Room.
In September 2006, Smither released Leave the Light On
(Signature Sounds Recordings
) produced by David 'Goody' Goodrich. His song, "Diplomacy," from the CD was named #42 on Rolling Stone
Magazine's list of 100 Best Songs of the Year 2006. Smither was also named as 2007's Outstanding Folk Act by the Boston Music Awards. That year he also contributed an essay entitled "Become a Parent" to the book Sixty Things To Do When You Turn Sixty (Ronnie Sellers Productions). And he narrated a two-CD audio book recording of Will Rogers' Greatest Hits (Logofon Recordings).
Smither released a 78-minute live concert DVD, One More Night, (Signature Sounds Recordings
) in February, 2008.
In May 2009, Smither's short story "Leroy Purcell" was released in Amplified (Melville House Publishing
), a collection of fiction by fifteen prominent performing songwriters.
Smither continues to tour worldwide, performing at clubs, concert halls, and festivals in the US, Canada
, UK, Ireland
, Europe
, Australia
.
Smither's thirteenth CD Time Stands Still was released on September 29, 2009 on Signature Sounds Recordings
.
On February 8, 2011, Chris was profiled in The New York Times
' Frequent Flier column, entitled, "The Drawbacks of a Modest Celebrity," in which he recounts anecdotes from his four decades as a traveling musician.
’ book A Trouble of Fools was published. This is the first in a series of 11 novels featuring the private investigator
Carlotta Carlysle who is a big Chris Smither fan, and all of which include some reference to Chris Smither.
Keys to Tetuan by Israeli novelist Moshe Benarroch uses a line from Smither's song “I Am The Ride” on the opening page.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
/blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. His music draws deeply from the blues, American folk music
American folk music
American folk music is a musical term that encompasses numerous genres, many of which are known as traditional music or roots music. Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, country music, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American...
, modern poets and philosophers.
Early life, influences and education
Smither’s family lived in EcuadorEcuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
and the Rio Grande Valley
Rio Grande Valley
The Rio Grande Valley or the Lower Rio Grande Valley, informally called The Valley, is an area located in the southernmost tip of South Texas...
in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
before settling in New Orleans when Chris was three years old. He grew up in New Orleans, and lived briefly in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where he and his twin sister attended French public school. It was in Paris that Smither got his first guitar - one his father brought him from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Shortly after, the family returned to New Orleans where his father taught at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
.
In 1960, Smither and two friends entered and won a folk “Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bands
Battle of Bands is a contest in which two or more bands compete for the title of "best band". The winner is determined by a panel of judges, the general response of the audience, or a combination. The winning band usually receives a prize in addition to bragging rights. Traditionally, battles of...
” at the New Orleans Saenger Theatre. Two years later, Smither graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans and went on to attend the University of the Americas
Universidad de las Américas, A.C.
Universidad de las Américas, A.C. is a university located at Mexico City, formed by a dissident group from Universidad de las Américas.Universidad de las Américas was founded with the name of Mexico City College in 1940 by Dr. Henry L. Cain and Dr. Paul V. Murray...
in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
planning to study anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. It was there that a friend played Smither the Lightnin' Hopkins
Lightnin' Hopkins
Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...
' record “Blues in My Bottle”. After one year in Mexico, Smither returned to New Orleans where he attended Tulane for one year and discovered Mississippi John Hurt
Mississippi John Hurt
John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...
’s music through the Blues at Newport 1963 album on Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
. Hurt and Hopkins would become cornerstone influences on Smither’s own music.
In 1964, Smither flew to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
two days prior to boarding the SS United States
SS United States
SS United States is a luxury passenger liner built in 1952 for the United States Lines designed to capture the trans-Atlantic speed record....
for the five-day transatlantic voyage to Paris for his Junior Year Abroad program. While in New York, he stopped at The Gaslight Cafe
The Gaslight Cafe
The Gaslight Cafe was an American coffee house located in the basement of 116 MacDougal Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York...
to see his hero, Mississippi John Hurt. Once in Paris, Smither often spent time playing his guitar instead of attending classes.
Smither returned to New Orleans in 1965. With a few clothes and his guitar, he soon took off for Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to meet another musical hero, Eric von Schmidt
Eric Von Schmidt
Eric "Rick" Von Schmidt was an American singer-songwriter and Grammy Award recipient. He was associated with the folk/blues revival of the 1960s and a key part of the East Coast folk music scene that included Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.-Background and associations with Dylan:Von Schmidt's father,...
. Smither arrived uninvited at von Schmidt’s door; Von Schmidt welcomed Smither in, and upon listening to him play, advised him to go north to seek a place in the burgeoning folk scene in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
or Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. Smither followed this advice, and arrived at Club 47 in Harvard Square
Harvard Square
Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...
several weeks later only to find von Schmidt performing. Von Schmidt invited Smither on stage to play three songs.
Professional career
Smither soon began writing and performing his own songs. He achieved some local notice and by 1967 was featured on the cover of Broadside MagazineBroadside Magazine
Broadside Magazine was a small mimeographed publication founded in 1962 by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham and her husband, Gordon Friesen. Hugely influential in the folk-revival, it was often controversial. Issues of what is folk music, what is folk rock, and who is folk were roundly discussed and debated...
, and in 1968 music photographer David Gahr’s book, The Face of Folk Music featured Smither’s picture.
By 1969, after living in several places around Cambridge, Smither moved to Garfield Street in Cambridge and often visited Dick Waterman
Dick Waterman
Dick Waterman is an American writer, promoter and photographer, who has been influential in the development and recording of the blues since the 1960s.-Life and career:...
's house where Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.-Career:...
, Son House
Son House
Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music...
and other blues legends were known to congregate. It was there that Smither first performed his song "Love You Like A Man" for Waterman's friend, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
. That summer, he appeared at the Philadelphia Folk Festival
Philadelphia Folk Festival
The Philadelphia Folk Festival is an annual folk music festival near Schwenksville, Pennsylvania in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Begun in 1962, the four-day festival is sponsored by the non-profit Philadelphia Folksong Society. The event hosts contemporary and traditional artists in genres...
for the first time.
In 1970, he released his first album I'm A Stranger, Too! on Poppy Records, followed by Don’t It Drag On the next year. He recorded a follow up, Honeysuckle Dog, in 1973 for United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
but it was never released as around the same time the record label was purchased by Transamerica, which culled over half the UA roster of artists (including Smither) shortly before putting the label out of business altogether. In 2004, the never-released Honeysuckle Dog was licensed by Tomato Records
Tomato Records
Tomato Records is an independent record label based in New York City. The label has released albums by influential artists such as Townes Van Zandt, Lightnin' Hopkins, Leadbelly, Chris Smither, Dave Brubeck, Nina Simone, Harry Partch and John Cage....
. Despite being dropped from the record label, Smither continued to tour, becoming a fixture in the New England folk clubs.
In 1972, a longstanding working relationship with Bonnie Raitt took shape as Raitt's cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Love Me Like a Man" appeared on her second album Give It Up. Raitt has since made it a signature song of her live performances, and the song has been included on several of her live albums and collections. She has openly expressed admiration for Smither's songwriting and guitar playing, once calling Smither "my Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
." In 1973, Raitt covered Smither's song "I Feel The Same" on her Takin' My Time
Takin' My Time
Takin' My Time is the third album by Bonnie Raitt, released in 1973 . Widely considered one of her strongest works, it was praised by critic Robert Christgau for "conveying songs from Calypso Rose and Martha Reeves Vandella into the women's music of the '70s."In an interview given in 1982, Raitt...
album.
Following this mixed early success, Smither's recording and songwriting career had a long fallow period while he struggled with personal issues. In his official biography, Smither is quoted: "I was basically drunk for 12 years, and somehow I managed to climb out of it; I don't know why."
Smither began to re-emerge as a performer in the late 1970s, and gained a few press notices. In 1979, he was featured in Eric von Schmidt and Jim Rooney's book, Baby Let Me Follow You Down, and the next year in the UK's Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
magazine.
In 1984, Smither's belated third album, It Ain’t Easy was released on Adelphi Records
Adelphi Records
Adelphi Records is a US record label founded in 1968 by Gene and Carol Rosenthal.Musicians on that label are The Nighthawks and Catfish Hodge , Lenny Breau, Reuben Brown and Richie Cole , Yellowman, Big Youth and Toots & the Maytals , Rev. Gary Davis, Gene Johnson [Rock & Soul], and Rev...
. In 1987, author Linda Barnes
Linda Barnes
Linda Barnes is an American mystery writer who was born and raised in Detroit, and graduated cum laude from the School of Fine and Applied Arts at Boston University. She then went on to become a drama teacher and director at Chelmsford and Lexington, Massachusetts schools...
’ book “A Trouble of Fools” was published. This is the first in a series of 11 (to-date) novels featuring the private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
Carlotta Carlysle who is a big Chris Smither fan, and all of which include some reference to Chris Smither.
Smither recorded his next album, Another Way To Find You, in front of a live audience at Soundtrack Studio in Boston and in 1991 released it on Flying Fish Records
Flying Fish Records
Flying Fish Records was a Chicago-based eclectic blues and country record label. It was founded in 1974 by Bruce Kaplan, former president of the University of Chicago's Folklore Society....
. Later that year he received a Boston Music Award. Two years later, he was invited to compose music for a documentary on Southern folk artists and met Southern folk artist Mose T
Mose Tolliver
Mose Ernest Tolliver was a disabled African-American folk artist who worked in a primitivist style. He was known as "Mose T", after the signature on his paintings.- Biography :...
.
In 1993, Smither recorded and released his fifth album, Happier Blue (Flying Fish), which earned Smither a National American Independent Record Distributors NAIRD award. Another two years later, he released Up On The Lowdown (Hightone Records
HighTone Records
HighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983...
), which was recorded at the Hit Shack in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. This was the first of three records produced by Stephen Bruton
Stephen Bruton
-Background:Born in Wilmington, Delaware as Turner Stephen Bruton, he moved with his family to Texas at the age of two. He fell into the Fort Worth music scene after graduating from Texas Christian University when he joined Kris Kristofferson's band as the latter's career was about to take off;...
. Also that year, the Chris Smither Songbook I was published.
In 1996 he began recording live concerts in the US and Ireland for what would later become a live CD. The next year, he released his seventh album, Small Revelations (Hightone), and filmed an instructional guitar video for Happy Traum
Happy Traum
Happy Traum is an American folk musician who started playing music in the Fifties. Happy is most famously known as one half of Happy and Artie Traum, a duo he began with his brother...
’s Homespun Tapes in Woodstock, NY.
In 1997 Smither's music was used exclusively on the entire score of the short film, The Ride, directed by John Flanders and produced by Flanders's company, RoughPine Productions. Flanders plays a folk-singer in the film who is largely influenced by Smither. The Ride won the Audience Best Film Award at the 2002 Moscow Film Festival.
1998 was a year of small breakthroughs and the start of a fertile songwriting and recording period for Smither. HighTone Records
HighTone Records
HighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983...
reissued Another Way To Find You and Happier Blue and Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist, best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.-Biography:...
invited Smither to teach at his Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. In addition, Smither toured with Dave Alvin
Dave Alvin
Dave Alvin , is a guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has been one of the leading proponents of 'roots' or 'American' music, bringing together elements of rock-and-roll, blues, rural and tejano music....
, Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
and Tom Russell
Tom Russell
Thomas George "Tom" Russell is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Texas Country music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, Tex-Mex, and the cowboy music of the American West. Many of his songs have been recorded by other artists, including...
as Hightone’s "Monsters of Folk" tour, and Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
recorded his song "Slow Surprise", for the Horse Whisperer
The Horse Whisperer
The Horse Whisperer is a 1998 American drama film directed by and starring Robert Redford, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nicholas Evans...
soundtrack CD.
In 1999, Smither released Drive You Home Again (HighTone Records
HighTone Records
HighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983...
), and Keys to Tetuan by Israeli novelist Moshe Benarroch was published with a line from Smither's song I Am The Ride on the opening page. Also in 1999 he went to New Zealand and played at the Sweetwaters Music Festival
Sweetwaters Music Festival
Sweetwaters Music Festival was a series of events held between 1980 and 1999, at venues such as a farm in Ngaruawahia, then further north on a farm near Pukekawa, and finally at South Auckland, New Zealand.- Events:*1980 - Ngaruawahia*1981 - Ngaruawahia...
.
2000 brought the release of another CD, Live As I’ll Ever Be (HighTone Records
HighTone Records
HighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983...
), comprising the live recordings made two years earlier. His song "No Love Today" was featured in the Bravo network program Tale Lights. The following year, songwriter Peter Case
Peter Case
Peter Case is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has had a wide-ranging career ranging from new wave music to folk rock to solo acoustic performance.-Early career:...
invited Smither to be part of a Mississippi John Hurt
Mississippi John Hurt
John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...
tribute record for which he contributed the opening track, “Frankie and Albert”.
In 2003, Train Home was released on Hightone. In 2004, jazz singer Diana Krall
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...
covered “Love Me Like A Man” on her CD, The Girl in the Other Room.
In September 2006, Smither released Leave the Light On
Leave the Light On (Chris Smither album)
Leave the Light On is an album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 2006. It was released on Mighty Albert, a new imprint established for him on Signature...
(Signature Sounds Recordings
Signature Sounds Recordings
Signature Sounds Recordings is an independent record label specializing in singer-songwriter, Americana, and modern folk music. Jim Olsen and Mark Thayer founded the label in 1995 to promote the acoustic artists playing in the Northampton, Massachusetts music scene...
) produced by David 'Goody' Goodrich. His song, "Diplomacy," from the CD was named #42 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
Magazine's list of 100 Best Songs of the Year 2006. Smither was also named as 2007's Outstanding Folk Act by the Boston Music Awards. That year he also contributed an essay entitled "Become a Parent" to the book Sixty Things To Do When You Turn Sixty (Ronnie Sellers Productions). And he narrated a two-CD audio book recording of Will Rogers' Greatest Hits (Logofon Recordings).
Smither released a 78-minute live concert DVD, One More Night, (Signature Sounds Recordings
Signature Sounds Recordings
Signature Sounds Recordings is an independent record label specializing in singer-songwriter, Americana, and modern folk music. Jim Olsen and Mark Thayer founded the label in 1995 to promote the acoustic artists playing in the Northampton, Massachusetts music scene...
) in February, 2008.
In May 2009, Smither's short story "Leroy Purcell" was released in Amplified (Melville House Publishing
Melville House Publishing
Melville House Publishing is an independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The company was founded in 2001 by the husband and wife team of Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians in Hoboken, New Jersey, a location Johnson jokingly called "the Left Bank" of New York City...
), a collection of fiction by fifteen prominent performing songwriters.
Smither continues to tour worldwide, performing at clubs, concert halls, and festivals in the US, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, UK, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Smither's thirteenth CD Time Stands Still was released on September 29, 2009 on Signature Sounds Recordings
Signature Sounds Recordings
Signature Sounds Recordings is an independent record label specializing in singer-songwriter, Americana, and modern folk music. Jim Olsen and Mark Thayer founded the label in 1995 to promote the acoustic artists playing in the Northampton, Massachusetts music scene...
.
On February 8, 2011, Chris was profiled in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
' Frequent Flier column, entitled, "The Drawbacks of a Modest Celebrity," in which he recounts anecdotes from his four decades as a traveling musician.
Pop culture references
In 1987, author Linda BarnesLinda Barnes
Linda Barnes is an American mystery writer who was born and raised in Detroit, and graduated cum laude from the School of Fine and Applied Arts at Boston University. She then went on to become a drama teacher and director at Chelmsford and Lexington, Massachusetts schools...
’ book A Trouble of Fools was published. This is the first in a series of 11 novels featuring the private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
Carlotta Carlysle who is a big Chris Smither fan, and all of which include some reference to Chris Smither.
Keys to Tetuan by Israeli novelist Moshe Benarroch uses a line from Smither's song “I Am The Ride” on the opening page.
Albums
- 1970 - I'm a Stranger Too!I'm a Stranger Too!-Track listing:All songs by Chris Smither unless otherwise noted.# "A Short While Ago"# "A Song for Susan"# "I Am a Child" # "Have You Seen My Baby?" # "Devil Got Your Woman"# "Homunculus"# "Love You Like a Man"# "Lonely Time"...
- 1971 - Don't It Drag OnDon't It Drag OnDon't It Drag On is an album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 1972. It was re-released on CD along with I'm a Stranger Too! in 2002.-Reception:...
- 1984 - It Ain't EasyIt Ain't Easy (Chris Smither album)It Ain't Easy is an album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 1984. The original contained 12 songs.-Reception:Writing for Allmusic, critic Brett Hartenbach wrote of the album "Smither never treats the songs as if they were museum pieces... There's not a false moment on the...
- 1991 - Another Way to Find YouAnother Way to Find YouAnother Way to Find You is a live studio album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 1991. It was recorded in the studio in front of a live audience.-Reception:...
- 1993 - Happier BlueHappier BlueHappier Blue is an album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 1993. It won a National American Independent Record Distributors award.-Reception:...
- 1995 - Up on the LowdownUp on the LowdownUp on the Lowdown is the title of a recording by Chris Smither. It was recorded at The Hit Shack in Austin, Texas.-Track listing:All songs by Chris Smither unless otherwise noted.# "Link of Chain" – 3:50# "'Deed I Do" – 3:38...
- 1997 - Small RevelationsSmall Revelations (Chris Smither album)Small Revelations is an album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 1997. Emmylou Harris recorded his song “Slow Surprise”, for the Horse Whisperer soundtrack CD.-Reception:...
- 1999 - Drive You Home AgainDrive You Home AgainDrive You Home Again is an album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 1999.-Reception:Writing for Allmusic, critic Jeff Burger wrote of the album "Smither's gravelly, instantly recognizable voice is a perfect fit for his pensive, sharply honed lyrics and his blues and folk-based...
- 2000 - Live As I'll Ever BeLive As I’ll Ever Be (Chris Smither album)Live As I'll Ever Be is the title of a recording by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither. It is a live album recorded over the course of several years. The cover was painted by Eric Von Schmidt.-Reception:...
- 2003 - Train HomeTrain Home (Chris Smither album)Train Home is an album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 2003. Guest Bonnie Raitt provides slide guitar and backup vocals on "Desolation Row".-Reception:...
- 2005 - Honeysuckle DogHoneysuckle DogHoneysuckle Dog is the title of a recording by Chris Smither, originally recorded in 1973 for United Artists Records but it was never released as around the same time the record label was purchased by Transamerica, which culled over half the UA roster of artists shortly before putting the label...
(recorded in 1973) - 2006 - Leave the Light OnLeave the Light On (Chris Smither album)Leave the Light On is an album by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 2006. It was released on Mighty Albert, a new imprint established for him on Signature...
- 2009 - Time Stands StillTime Stands Still (album)Time Stands Still is an album of Blues and Folk music by American singer/songwriter Chris Smither, released in 2009. It was released on Signature Sound Recordings and produced by David Goodrich.-Reception:...
Live recordings and compilation albums
- Blues Live From Mountain Stage ("The Devil's Real") (1995)
- Avalon Blues: A Tribute to the Music of Mississippi John Hurt ("Frankie and Albert") (2001)
- Live At McCabe's Guitar Shop (2004)
- Raise the Roof - A Retrospective ("Winsome Smile") (2004)
- A Case for Case: A Tribute to the Songs of Peter Case ("Cold Trail Blues") (2006)
- Tales from the Tavern, Vol.1 ("Train Home") (2006)
- True Folk (Plays "Step It Up and Go" with Jorma Kaukonen) (2006)