Drive You Home Again
Editorial Reviews
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Bonnie Raitt may call Chris Smither "my Eric Clapton," but Smither's importance has less to do with instrumental prowess than with fusing sonic textures and with finely crafted lyrics. Smither's best songs aspire to poetic insights via the blues, evoking troubled, complicated moods through the incessant, slinky groove of his guitar. Working again with session player and producer Stephen Bruton, Smither weds lilting acoustic blues arrangements with more ambitious, spacious sounds--including diverse percussive rhythms, piano, organ, and blues harp. The sonics are at times reminscent of Daniel Lanois's work with Bob Dylan. Smither's most memorable original work isn't found on this, his ninth album, though it may be his best collection. The only misstep is the zydeco jaunt "Tell Me Why You Love Me," which sounds out of place amid all the eerie meditations. In Smither's vision, folk music, like life, plays out "in very complicated measures / And they can't be simplified / If we just keep this together / All the rest is justified." And he shows the same intensity in his choice of covers, especially Tim Hardin's gorgeous "Don't Make Promises," here found in its definitive version. --Roy Kasten
Drive You Home Again, Music, Chris Smither, Blues, Blues-Rock, Contemporary Blues, Contemporary Folk, Folk & Traditional, Pop, Singer/Songwriter
Music:
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