Chris Smither may not be best described as a pure bluesman, but BlueNotes, using the authority vested in him, will write about him anyway. Although when he sets his mind to it, Smither is one of the best acoustic blues players around.
Jim White photo
Chris Smither at the Club Cafe.
Smither was at the Club Cafe on the South Side last night, displaying his songwriting and fingerpicking skills, both of which are considerable.
He's relaxed and amiable onstage, and his music can sound light and airy, but his lyrics can be as profound as they are pleasant. It seems he has lessons of life to sing, and he's one of the best, with pointed observations popping out of every song.
In the contemporary "Diplomacy," he sings:
"We got some freedom, we got an iPod store
"We got the savior, you couldn't ask for more...
"It's the land of the free, blind and leadin' the lame."
And there's a sly sense of humor in lyrics like this line from "Confirmation":
"I never was good lookin',
"But now I'm too old to let that get me down."
And when I say that he's perhaps not best described as a bluesman, I mean that he doesn't sing a lot of songs instantly recognizable as "blues." But there's a folk-blues spirit lurking just beneath the surface of almost everything he does.
And when he sets his mind and fingers to it, as he did in his encore with Blind Willie McTell's "Stateboro Blues," it can take your breath away.
And yes, he did the song that he wrote that helped Bonnie Raitt become famous -- "Love You Like A Man." I like his lyrics better. But you'll have to look them up. BlueNotes' employer would frown at their exposure here.
You get the feeling that Smither has thought a lot about life, and at 63, is putting more and more of it into his writing. Not that he always hasn't.
There are humor and politics and spirituality and smart and clever observations about all that and more. Time spent listening to this music brings out the best of any music -- enlightenment and entertainment.
brooks
First Published: June 1, 2007, 2:00 p.m.
