TOM SMITH – Live At The Loft

TOM SMITH – Live At The Loft
 
Child’s Play – Little Dog – L.A. Traffic –
Snakes In My Dreams – Shoes – Letters From Home – Edgar – Quarter Moons
and Dawn – Juliet’s Window – Home is Who – Just Because – Hands –
Through My Eyes – Festival – Behind Your Smile – On Any Given Night –
Knife – Higher Ground
 
     On one of his many tours outside his home of
Nashville, Tennessee, Tom Smith finds himself in Redding, California, at
the prestigious Bohemian Art Loft in Redding.  His music, from the very
beginning, is eclectic, ‘live,’ and alive.  As a fellow musician, I
sometimes wonder if Tom can play the same selection exactly the same a
second time?  Doubtful, but to me that is exactly what makes a musician
with a ‘gift.’  And indeed, Tom Smith has the gift.  He also has brand
new strings on this very propulsive acoustic guitar he is playing.
     Not a large audience at this session, which is quite
normal for California ‘folk’ venues, however those that are present are
enthusiastic fans and supporters of what Tom is doing with his guitar. 
Tom is a dedicated artist, and probably considered on the fringe area of
music, but isn’t that what creativity is all about.  I doubt you will
hear anything like Tom Smith is doing….anywhere else but where he’s
at.
     By the fourth song on this CD, he switches to 5-string
banjo, and prompts the audience to check out his shoes, the
difficulties of traveling in boots, and the beauty of his ‘new’ shoes
which ain’t boots.  Funny. 
     He stays on banjo to demonstrate the result of a
‘story’ about Edgar, Santa’s ‘front-man’ elf.  Quarter Moons and Dawn is
also on banjo, but he slips back to guitar on Juliet’s Window.  By the
time he gets to “Behind Your Smile” he is regaling his audience with his
experiences playing in Iowa.  For 5,000 tractor drivers who don’t want
to hear anything other than Hank Snow songs.  I wonder where he is? 
Anyway, he has survived that experience, to not only get those tractor
drivers to listen to him, but to actually like what he does.  That’s
what I call progress.
     For anyone who likes eclectic music, new and different
ways to play the guitar and banjo, stories about gun fights and
robbery….’today’, this is the CD for you. 

Bob Everhart

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