Chris Smither plays songs from 'All About The Bones' at Radio Heartland
by Mike Pengra
September 24, 2024
Singer-songwriter Chris Smither visited Radio Heartland at The Current to perform songs from his 2024 album, All About The Bones. It’s the 20th studio album for Smither, who worked on the record with his longtime producer David Goodrich.
After playing songs, Smither stuck around to chat with Radio Heartland’s Mike Pengra. You can watch the performances above, and then watch the interview and read a transcript below.
Interview Transcript
Mike Pengra: I get to be in the studio with Chris Smither, and it's been a few years, Chris, since you've been here. Welcome back to Minnesota.
Chris Smither: Thank you. Thank you.
Mike Pengra: We're here to talk about your new record, All About The Bones, which is album number 20, if I'm not mistaken.
Chris Smither: That's what they tell me. It seems hard to believe.
Mike Pengra: Tell me about All About The Bones you've got — I know there's at least, what? Eight, 10 originals on there, and a couple of covers too.
Chris Smither: Yeah, yeah, eight originals, two covers. And I like to do covers. I normally do include a cover or two in there. I just like to show people where I see myself. It's an interesting concept of, you know, I don't... it's a way of just telling people how I fit in, in my own mind.
Mike Pengra: Yeah, of course.
Chris Smither: But yeah, it was an interesting project. It all came together in a hurry. I had a year to do it. I thought I had, you know, I thought to myself, "OK, I'll be ready to record by June of '23," you know, something like that. And by June of '23 I had exactly one song. David Goodrich, my producer, calls me up. Goody says, "Are you worried?" I said, "Yeah." He says, "Me too. I'm coming up." And that's, that's a relate, you know, we've been working together for 25, over 25 years, and everybody needs somebody like that, who is a catalyst for them, and and he is that for me. It's like I've often said, he walks into the room, everything changes, usually for the better.
Mike Pengra: And you've been working with him, as you said, for a while now.
Chris Smither: Yeah.
Mike Pengra: What else does he bring to the session with you? He inspires creativity?
Chris Smither: He's a multi-instrumentalist, he's a fabulous player.
Mike Pengra: Yes.
Chris Smither: And he brings a sensibility. From the first time that I worked with him, I realized, I felt this is somebody who understands what I'm trying to do. I may not be able to actually do it, but he understands what the effort, where the effort is pointed and can direct it. He also, he never steps on what I'm doing, you know? He keeps what I'm doing front, because normally I, you know, with few exceptions, I play and I perform on my own, just by myself. And he wants to make sure that that sort of integral arrangement, my personal orchestration, is apparent within the production. And so the production is all surrounding and amplifying that, as opposed to sort of taking front and center.
Mike Pengra: Does he start by recording you solo and then adding other instruments? Yeah.
Chris Smither: Usually, if we've got percussion, we usually do it with the drums, you know? And it's very minimal percussion on this record, but it was great. Zak Trojano is, he's just got a great feel. He doesn't like any metal. I like that dude. You know, when we do the basic tracks, he never uses cymbals, you know? There are some cymbal touches and hits, but they're all overdubbed, you know, and very minimal, you know, he just sits there with basically two drums, you know, a kick, and a very small kick at that. It's really, it's actually just a box, I think, and a snare. And works with different, yeah, it's just very basic stuff. And we just, we sit there, just about as close as I am to you right now, and we can look at each other and nod and sort of get that, that groove, that feeling, and, you know, he fits right in. And then once we got a take down, it doesn't usually take very long, one or two takes. Almost everybody involved is ready, you know, they just, they come in. They know what they're doing.
Mike Pengra: Where did you record this?
Chris Smither: This was recorded at Sonelab in Easthampton, Massachusetts. I never worked there before. I worked once before with the engineer. He owns the studio. His background is mostly rock and roll, and it put a whole other feel to the to the record. And I look for that. I mean, I look for something a little bit different on every record. And the sonic fingerprint, shall we say, of this record is little more edgy, you know, than than some of them.
Mike Pengra: Yeah. You spent a good part of your formative years in New Orleans.
Chris Smither: Yeah, most of them, in fact!
Mike Pengra: I'm curious about that, because, did you ever, I mean, that city has so much music in it, it just breathes music.
Chris Smither: Yeah.
Mike Pengra: How did that influence you as an up-and-coming musician, folk singer.
Chris Smither: Well, I, you know, that's a question I get all the time. I even wrote a song about it once.
Mike Pengra: Of course you did.
Chris Smither: It's just what I do, you know. I'm not really, you know, the way that the city influenced me is apparent, more apparent to other people than it is to me.
Mike Pengra: OK.
Chris Smither: And other people claim to be able to see it, and you tell them you're from New Orleans, and they go, "Oh, well, no wonder." And I think, "No wonder what?" you know, but nobody bothers to explain that part to me. But you know, it's, I think it's more of an attitude than any actual musical techniques or characteristics that you could point your figure at. You know, it's an attitude that music is everywhere, and you should feel free to express yourself that way any time you want. Just walking down the street, nobody's gonna blink if you burst into song.
Mike Pengra: On the street corner or wherever.
Chris Smither: Yeah!
Mike Pengra: That's what I love about that city. You can just walk anywhere and always find great music.
Chris Smither: Yeah, yeah. You know, I discovered as a musician, New Orleans is a great town to be from. You know, I'm not so sure I want to live there. I mean, there's a certain amount of charming dysfunction to the town, you know, that drives you crazy if you think of yourself as a responsible citizen. Yeah. But I dearly love the town. I love what goes on there. And I still have, well, I got a lot of classmates from high school that are still there, you know? And I see them and I try to get down, you know, Jazz Fest brings me down every four or five years, you know, when they're getting "back down to their beginnings." That's how they describe it.
Mike Pengra: I'm talking with Chris Smither about his album, All About The Bones. As I mentioned, this is album number 20, and there's several best-ofs out there as well. What's next for you? You turn a big number this fall, 80 in November, right?
Chris Smither: Eighty this November. You know, I don't answer that question anymore.
Mike Pengra: OK.
Chris Smither: And I did, you know, up to this record, I said, "Yeah, I think I got one more," and there may be another one, but I don't know, and I'm not going to commit to it. It creates all sorts of ... We'll see. We'll see. I feel great. You know, if it happens, it happens. But I did, you know, what's next is just a month ago, I got, this came in over the transom, a director in Los Angeles called me, and he was doing a short film and wanted, and had lost one of their leads. They said, "Can you come do that?" And so anyway, to make a long story short, one of my first experiences in film. And I went out, and it was a real boot in the pants. I loved it. I mean, it was such a kick.
Mike Pengra: What was your role?
Chris Smither: I'm a singer. The short is called The Singers. It's based on a short story by [Ivan] Turgenev, a Russian writer from 19th century. And in the original story, it takes place in a tavern in the middle of 19th-century Russia, you know, with a bunch of cerfs trying to forget their miserable existence. And a couple of them are singers, and they have a singing competition. The prize is a big tankard of beer. And it's a very odd story. I mean, you can read it in 20 minutes. You know, it's The Singers by Turgenev. And this is a modern take on it. It takes place in some dive bar, not specified where, maybe early '80s, something like that, full of smoke. Everybody's smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and trying to forget their miserable lives, you know? And a singing competition develops between four or five people, and I'm one of the, I'm one of the competitors.
Mike Pengra: Got it, OK.
Chris Smither: But I don't, I don't play Chris Smither, I'm just a singer in the bar, a guy who sings, you know, apparently he used to sing a long time ago, and I'm sick. I've got, you know, oxygen cannula up my nose. I'm carrying around an oxygen tank, you know, but it is, I'm so thrilled to have been a part of it. I love the guys that were working on it. Director's name is Sam Davis, and he's well known.
Mike Pengra: And the movie is what?
Chris Smither: The Singers.
Mike Pengra: The Singers.
Chris Smither: Yeah. They're hopeful that it'll be at Sundance this year.
Mike Pengra: Since the last time we talked, we lost a mutual friend, Billy Conway passed away. Billy played drums with you a number of times, and with a number of musicians who have been through the studio. He's a Minnesota native. Got any good stories about Billy?
Chris Smither: Oh, a ton of them. And they won't come to me right now, of course. But you know, I just, you know, I loved him. He was, you know, my sister met him for the first time, and was very impressed at one point, you know. And so when we got off by ourselves, she said to me, "Tell me about Billy Conway." I said, "Billy Conway is a prince."
Mike Pengra: Yeah.
Chris Smither: She said, "What do you mean by that, a prince?" I said, "Somebody who just makes you feel good to be around him." And that was him. Wonderful percussionist, always in service to the song. And one of the things I loved about him was that he could, you'd sit down and work on a tune with him, come back to it later, and maybe your time was off, your sense of where the groove was for the song, and he always remembered. And he'd bring you right back to it, and say, "No, this is what we were doing." You know, it was cool and very unobtrusive, but he would just seep in through the cracks and hold everything in place. It was great.
Mike Pengra: Yeah.
Chris Smither: Lovely man.
Mike Pengra: Chris, thank you for coming in today.
Chris Smither: Oh sure.
Mike Pengra: Congratulations on your latest album. It's All About The Bones.
Chris Smither: Yeah, it is.
Mike Pengra: And here's to many more.
Chris Smither: Thanks. Good to see you.
Mike Pengra: Good to see you.
Songs Performed
00:00:00 Still Believe In You
00:03:50 All About The Bones
00:07:15 In The Bardo
All songs from Chris Smither’s 2024 album, All About The Bones, available on Signature Sounds Recording Inc.
Musician
Chris Smither – guitar, vocals, percussion
Credits
Guest – Chris Smither
Host & Producer – Mike Pengra
Audio – Evan Clark
Video – D’Vir Rudin
Camera Operators – D’Vir Rudin, Erik Stromstad
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor
External Link
Chris Smither – official site