"...[Smyth] writes with purpose and personality...charming and idiosyncratic...rumbling rock and roll...sing-along country rock... blues and jazz....even some Tex-Mex influences...primed to step out in front of bigger crowds." -- Seven Days.
Album Review John Smyth: Hunger Mountain Clay
Dan Bolles Seven Days May 16, 2018
(Self-released, CD, digital download)
For years and years, John Smyth has haunted the margins of the local singer-songwriter scene, honing his craft at open mics and small, often out-of-the-way stages throughout central Vermont with workmanlike regularity. Until recently, that was the only way to hear him: to catch him at the Whammy Bar in Calais or the mic at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners and the like. But Smyth's newly released debut album, the Colin McCaffrey-produced Hunger Mountain Clay, suggests that the songwriter may finally be primed to step out in front of bigger crowds.
Between its rural origins and twang-specialist producer — not to mention its rootsy AF title — you could be forgiven for assuming Hunger Mountain Clay is yet another in a long line of Vermont Americana records. While elements of folk and country streak throughout, Smyth admirably expands his sonic palette. He dabbles in various strains of rock, blues and jazz, even importing some Tex-Mex and Latin influences. The result is a record rooted in more than just mountain clay.
"My Baby Drives Too Fast" opens the album with rumbling rock and roll. It's an album highlight, an old-fashioned drag race of a song that revs high off the line and doesn't slow down. Key to its success is a quality that later eludes Smyth: efficiency. While cheeky, his writing here is lean and focused, a finely tuned engine that doesn't waste a drop of fuel.
That's not always the case throughout the record. On the murder ballad "Got Away With Murder," for example, Smyth is guilty of overwriting — a case closed when he whispers the title line: "She got away ... with murder." The ill-advised dramatic device is presumably meant for chilling effect but instead comes off as hokey.
Fortunately, such instances are exceptions, as Smyth generally writes with purpose and personality. Those qualities are aided by his pleasantly husky, plainspoken vocal delivery. "Bordertown" is a nifty slice of dusty, Tejano-inflected rock whose gothic bent is captured in Peter Lind's spooky harmonica. The title track owes a debt to the sing-along country-rock strains of the Band. "Nothing but Pearls" is a charming and idiosyncratic little love song colored with gorgeous dobro licks, courtesy of Ivan Goldstein.
In McCaffrey's expert hands, Hunger Mountain Clay sings with twangy clarity — including the producer's considerable contributions on guitars, keys, mandolin, strings, bass and backing vocals. In particular, Russ Lawton's metronomic drums are set perfectly in the mix, a driving force throughout. Most importantly, though, Smyth's enigmatic style is given room to roam. His debut record is a promising development for this long-overlooked Vermont songwriter.
Hunger Mountain Clay is streaming on Spotify. CDs are available at Smyth's shows. Follow Smyth on Facebook for show dates.
A welcome debut: John Smyth’s ‘Hunger Mountain Clay’
CD Review
By ART EDELSTEIN ARTS CORRESPONDENT , The Rutland herald
Jun 9, 2018
“I’m proud of something I’ve done, and I want to share it,” says John Smyth about his first recording, “Hunger Mountain Clay.” Smyth should be proud.
This first effort by a musician who has been playing local bars and restaurants for years is an interesting album of 11 songs and several styles encompassing 46 minutes of entertainment. Smyth, from Georgia, wrote all the songs, which range from a scorching rock song “My Baby Drives Too Fast,” to the mellow “Something Nice,” with subsequent tracks that favor the story song approach. He closes with an original talking blues song, “Talkin’ Raccoon Stink-Eye Blues.” Kudos to Smyth for resurrecting the talking blues style, we haven’t heard a new one in a very long time.
Smyth says he owes a lot to his engineer and producer Colin McCaffrey, of East Montpelier, who shepherded this project through the process of arranging, recording and producing. McCaffrey is well known to Vermont musicians for his ability to take raw material and mold it into recordings that are entertaining. He has boosted the career of a number of Vermont musicians. His Midas touch may well do the same for Smyth. As Smyth tells it, “It was a pretty intimidating project. It is my first CD. Colin kept me going. When my enthusiasm waned, he added his; when my self-doubt swallowed me whole, he pulled me out. His job? Sure … but it’s so much more than that for him. I got lucky when I found Colin.” He added, “This project took a long time. Over two years!” Like many local musicians who have to self-fund a recording, “it would go on hold for a few weeks or months while I gigged for enough money to do some more.” Smyth was open about the hurdles musicians face when they go into the recording studio for the first time.
“When I first met Colin, I had only performed solo up to that point. So I was pretty horrible at having the near-perfect timing required for click-tracking, which was needed for Colin to do efficient overdubs. I've since started working with a drummer, and I'm much better, but at the time, I was pretty bad.” Many soloists don’t realize that their timing is not perfect until they get into a studio where other musicians will overdub their instruments into the mix. “So to record most of these songs, I would play the song for Colin, and he would amazingly play it back to me in perfect timing. We'd record that, and I'd sing to it, and that would be the foundation,” Smyth explained. Two of the tracks, “I’m A-Going Fishin” and “Talkin’ Raccoon Stink-Eye Blues,” were recorded live in the studio with Smyth playing acoustic guitar. His acoustic work is good and we wonder why he doesn’t play on more tracks.
These are the “folk” tracks on the album. There are several “hits” on this CD but this reviewer’s favorite is “Bordertown” which has a Tex-Mex feel while actually set in New England. Peter Lind’s harmonica playing, a soulful blues, permeates the track adding the right amount of pathos to the song. Smyth, who works daytime as a computer programmer, uses his day job as backdrop for this song. The opening verse is: “Standing guard at the outpost, of a dusty border town, sweeping up the floor, when a message came across the wire, said, ‘Did I ever know you, from before?’ My finger hovered over the delete key for a moment, then I put it down. Out here in this lonely border town.” Smyth’s voice has some rough edges but there is an immediacy and sincerity in his delivery that overrides his vocal deficiencies. He’s written songs that command attention to his lyrics. McCaffrey paints the aural landscape with interesting and appropriate instruments. All in all “Hunger Mountain Clay” is a satisfying first effort by an intriguing musician. Smyth plays regularly at Twiggs, an America Gastropub in St. Albans, Whammy Bar in Calais, El Toro Mexican Restaurant in Morrisville, Charlie-O's World Famous in Montpelier), Local Folk Smokehouse in Waitsfield, Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners, and occasionally, Nectar's Burlington.
“John is a craftsman songwriter. His lyrics are powerful, humorous and immediate. ”
— Colin McCaffrey, Award winning Vermont singer, songwriter, producer and instrumentalist