Friday, July 9, 2010

Chris Smither: Live As I'll Ever Be (2000)

(As published in the Times of Acadiana ... )

Chris Smither
Live As I’ll Ever Be
(Hightone)


Smither doesn’t exactly squander the considerable good will he’s established between himself and his audience over the years with this in-concert summary of his Hightone years. As the most fluid and bluesy of acoustic guitar folk-pickers and as the least affected of white-blues singers, he’s too talented for that. Still, seven of these sixteen performances are available in perfectly fine studio versions on 1997’s Small Revelations and four others on 1995’s Up on the Lowdown, forcing diehard Smitherites to ask themselves just how much they value applause and Smither’s imitation of the peddler who used to hawk fruit and vegetables in the New Orleans neighborhood where he grew up (“No Love Today Intro”). Rating: Three-and-a-half Smithereens out of five

No comments:

Post a Comment