Customer Reviews

I'm a Stranger Too

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Great guitar player, singer and songwriter. Some of his stuff is kind of repetitive, but most of it is lovely.

Used for "I Am A Stranger" Too AND "Don't It Drag On"

The above-entitled headline needs some explanation. This is not a takeoff on Prince's various transformations. Over the past year or so I have been reviewing CDs, old and new, of various male folk artists like the artist under review, Chris Smither, who participated in and drove the folk revival of the early 1960's and are still active in that milieu. I have posed a question in these reviews about why these very talented performers never attained the fame of Bob Dylan, the acknowledged "king of the hill" male folk singer from that era. As a "response" to that inquiry I recently received an e-mail from Chris's publicity agent.

Did this "flak" write to convey her thanks for the genuinely positive and heartfelt reviews that I have given Chris's work? No. Did she argue that I had it all wrong and that Chris should really be declared the chief god of the folk pantheon as a good PR agent would? No. Alternatively, did she declare that I could not tell Chris's blue guitar from a blue moon. No. What she inquired about was my use of the`s' word in my reviews. The`s' word being my mistake of putting an`s' at the end of Chris's last name. Well, ho hum. However in this reviewer's household we have virtually every one of Chris's CDs so the rest of the reviews of his work in this space will be burdened by being introduced under the sign of the missing`s'.

But enough of that. To paraphrase a line from one of Chris's lyrics "Let It Go" this `should not concern a man of my stature'. And that is the heart of the matter. With or without the`s' Chris has the goods that make a great folk performer. That is the point behind my including him along with the likes of Dave Van Ronk, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton and Tom Rush in the first place. This and future CD reviews will also go under the sign of the main points made in earlier reviews as below:

"I do not know if Chris Smither, 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. This double CD exhibits Chris's early work and his trademark foot tapping, wry lyrics and thoughtful commentary on the vagaries of living in his little section of the modern world. He plays that signature blue guitar for all it is worth on such covers as Randy Newman's "Have You Seen My Baby" and his own "Love You Like A Man"" yet can turn it down several notches for a song like "Lonesome Georgia Brown" and the poignant "Every Mother's Son" go softer on reflective songs like "Mail order Mystic". 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 "I've Got Mine" on that last point. Then turn it up a notch with a bittersweet song like "Don't It Drag On". Yes, Chris had the tools to go out and slay the dragons of the folk world. These are young Chris Smithers', oops, Smither's five star works. That work may not be well known outside the precincts of the graying folk world, but it should be.