CHRIS SMITHER
PAUL CEBAR
Sunday, November 15, 2009, 7:00 PM
Joe's Pub
Chris Smither w/ Paul Cebar
Four decades of music mastery and songwriting craft come together on Chris Smither's latest collection, Time Stands Still —a gripping mix of originals and potent covers. The new collection comes out September 29 on Signature Sounds/Mighty Albert. Time Stands Still puts the exclamation point on a legendary career that shows no signs of slowing down. On the contrary, this blues and folk superstar continues to build creative momentum.
His latest effort features a slew of tunes stripped down to their essence, shining the spotlight on Smither's understated power as a songwriter—one who taps into emotions at their most elemental and powerful core. It's a reminder why artists as diverse as Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris and Diana Krall have mined Smither's catalog in the past.
He's teamed with producer and guitarist David "Goody" Goodrich and drummer Zak Trojano to create a simple, yet emotionally powerful musical landscape upon which to paint his blues and folk-fueled narratives. As always, Smither's signature finger-picking style mixes with his whiskey-meets-honey vocals to deliver intensely honest meditations on life, love and loss.
Smither's 11th studio album was recorded in just three days and captures the vibrant urgency and immediacy of his live shows. It features eight original compositions as well as covers from Bob Dylan, Mark Knopfler, and 1920s country-blues songster Frank Hutchison.
Equal parts existential inquisitor and day-to-day chronicler, Smither has an innate ability to imbibe songs dealing with contemporary issues with a timeless quality. Whether playfully dealing with parenthood on "I Don't Know" or acting the seducer on "Don't Call Me Stranger," the brokenness of the blues is never far away. Every song is seeped in emotion, burnished with wisdom of hard-fought knowledge. Like the master craftsman he is, Smither always marries the right melody with thought-provoking, heart-and-soul rending lyrics. Nowhere is that more evident than on the soulful title track. Building on a toe-tapping beat, Smither's voice plaintively sings "I kissed her twice at the speed of light and time stood still," perfectly capturing and immortalizing one of the small moments that give so much meaning in life.
Like all great blues and folk masters, Smither doesn't wallow in the darkness. Rather he illuminates it, and the songs on Time Stands Still shine a light on the intricacies of the human condition.
His insights and creativity are finding new outlets. He recently contributed a short story for the new book, Amplified (Melville House), a collection of 16 stories by some of today's most compelling performing songwriter. His story, "Leroy Purcell" kicks off the collection.
Burgeoning literary powerhouse, distinctive guitarist, captivating storyteller and song poet—there's no end to Chris Smither's creative talents. He's got so much going on, don't be surprised if his latest collection of music makes Time Stand Still.
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TOMMOROW SOUND NOW FOR YES MUSIC PEOPLE, the newest addition to the Paul Cebar catalog, boasts both the open-hearted spontaneous soulful- ness we’ve come to expect from this dedicated musician (Who Can Love Who?, The Same Dog, Marv’s Fluttering Guitar, I’m Qualified) and wild- headed, crazyquilt conjuring (Knock It To Me, Like A Gentleman Oughta, Spread That Sugar) that feels like a bold contemporary invigoration of the inviting verities he has always explored. There’s the meaty Hey Hey Honey, a delightful a capella nod to Alan Lomax and his recording of Norfolk’s Bright Lights Quartet, a tender tribute to Sierra Leone’s King of Palmwine Music, S.E. Rogie in his Do Me Justice, and Paul’s glorious homage to guitarist Marv Tarplin, Smokey Robinson’s right hand man for the last 40 years, Marv’s Flut- tering Guitar. Add the classic New Orleans swagger of I Got Trouble (replete with Cebar’s Jessie Hill-inspired tambourine machinations) and the storming plea for tenderness The Gimp Sparrow (richly reflecting the influence of Paul’s travels in Cuba, Brazil and Trinidad), and it’s clear that this is a romp of colossal heart and scope. The years since the release of the last studio album have been spent touring continu- ally and intensifying the fervor with which Cebar has always infused his music. From the Hot Chocolate meets Latin Playboys skank of How’d You Get Like That? to the stately Muscle Shoals balladry of I’m Qualified, featuring Nick Lowe’s brotherly back-up vocals, TOMMOROW SOUND NOW FOR YES MUSIC PEOPLE is the best batch yet of of an endangered strain of fortified, intensi- fied, fully jacked-up, roaring and exceedingly personal music-making from a singular Midwestern master. It may be time for all sorts of things, but it is high time for Paul Cebar. He has been, is, and will be the real doggone deal.
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