Piece Description

The blues of Byther Smith is often dark, brooding, and unsettling. His new album "Blues On the Moon" was recorded live last year in Chicago, and is available as both a CD and a DVD. This is the show that, unfortunately, you may not see if you catch Smitty at an out-of-town gig, where he often arrives with a pick-up band. Smitty is a cousin of the late bluesman J. B. Lenoir, and his cousin's influence is evident on a number of these songs. But this is highly original stuff, if not always politically correct or attuned to current sensibilitiies. Byther Smith's process for writing involves tapping the unconscious mind and pulling up whatever is there, rather than taking a fully formed conscious idea and casting a song. This approach results in the unfiltered, surrealistic, soulful blues on the album.