Time Stands Still
Artist: Chris Smither
Signature Sound Recordings
Length: 11 tracks/44:26

Many listeners are familiar with Smither’s work through Bonnie Raitt, who made his classic tune “Love Me Like a Man” one of her signatures performances. After a career that has spanned four decades, Chris Smither is still writing great tunes with thought-provoking lyrics all delivered with his charming baritone voice. And don’t forget that Smither is also a fine guitar player who patterned his finger picking on the style of blues legend Lightnin] Hopkins. 

His latest project finds Smither exploring a number of musical styles while maintaining a high level throughout the disc. “I Don’t Know” sports a lilting Caribbean rhythm as Smither ponders some of life’s mysteries for the benefit of his young child, asking “If something comes from nothing’ then what makes it grow ?”  On “Call Yourself”, he makes a case for ignoring the various forms of help people often turn to and  recommends that we “..dial your own number - See if you can answer your own call.” His backing band, producer David Goodrich on various guitars and piano plus Zak Trojano on percussion, turn the heat up on “Surprise, Surprise”, rocking hard while Smither paints a bleak picture of the modern world and our financial mess, a vision that he feels brings plenty of disappointment leading right up to the grave. 

The pensive “Old Man Down” utilizes the acoustic blues format as a basis for Smither to explore the emotional impact of the death of his father. The opening track, “Don’t Call Me Stranger”, examines the musings of a man on the make as he tries to seduce his  target, promising that he is not evil - just bad. Goodrich adds some fine slide guitar that really sets the seductive mood.  Smither displays his dexterity on the title track as he picks an intricate pattern  on guitar over his tapping foot. The song examines time in relation to one’s life, with Smither admitting to now moving slower, so slow that “..my shadow often kicks me from behind.” 

Smither recasts Bob Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” as a  folk piece, his vocal gentle but with a touch of urgency while he picks out a delicate rhythm on guitar. Frank Hutchison is considered to be the first white bluesman. He composed a number of songs in his very brief career that influenced a wide range of musicians. Smither covers “Miner’s Blues”, adding a drawling vocal over Goodrich on junk piano. The closing track is Smither’s rendition of Mark Knopfler’s “Madame Geneva”, a tribute to the English folk tradition. Smither handles this track on his own, foot supplying the beat  for his sublime guitar picking.

Chris Smither fits the part of an aging minstrel or troubadour, a musician who has traveled far and wide. Having survived  - and in the process gaining  insight while sharpening his skills - the troubadour uses music to share his hard-earned  experiences. Smither has plenty to say and does so in an engaging fashion throughout this recording. His lyrics will draw you in while the music soothes your soul. This recording definitely deserves a listen !!

reviewed by Mark Thompson

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Chris Smither is a veteran of the singer-songwriter movement. He was there in the beginnings with those heady record contracts signed by the likes of James Taylor and others bringing on a new generation of artists who would often point us deeper into personal experience and introspection. Influence by the time when Dylan was a mystery ghost during his recovery period from the infamous motorcycle accident, it seemed many other artists picked up his mantle and began to show signs of the songwriting modes Dylan had created during the mid-sixties.  It's significant that Chris'albums have covered many adventurous Dylan covers from that period, like "Desolation Row." Like the Big Pink/Basement Tapes days of Dylan and The Band, Chris Smithers brings a modern lyrical acoustic style to an antique form of music, in this case country blues somewhere between Delta and Piedmont blues. Time Stands Still stands among his best.  

This album finds Smither in good form. He is a blues guitarist who takes his themes out to more mystical and modern themes than Jesse Fuller would have ever dreamed. It's like Socrates meets the Mississippi Delta. His albums have created a formula in terms of song selection. This one is no exception; but it's a formula that works.  There are a number of his original spin-through-time, songs and covers such as Dylan's It Takes A Train To Laugh, which is given a blues-dripping treatment. But the strength here is in the originality of an artist who, in his original works, refuses to take a self-absorbed introspective stance in his songs, in favor of exploring some pretty darned profound insights on the meaning of the human journey in a way that is completely down-to-earth.  If Smither is not operating from a completely Christian worldview, he is walking very close to that line, balancing himself somewhere between a Fredrick Buechner and Kierkegaard. But, if you close your eyes, turn off your intellect, you'll find your imagination running down a full moon on some August ragtime night in the distant deep south past. 

Recorded in a raw, live-the-studio fashion, this CD will demonstrate Chris Smither as one of the most welcome survivors of the last four decade. It also gives us a portrait of an artist who still works on his art, pushing it forward to a welcome addition to a well-deserved legacy. 
 
Smither is currently on a solo tour. He can sometimes be found opening for John Prine. As a writer he has also been featured in Amplified, a collection of short stories by some of the best singer-songwriters in the country.  
 
Terry Roland