Recordstore - Music Spoken Here

The name may be a common one, but this is definitely no ordinary John Smith…

The 27-year-old Essex-born songster is an engaging performer. A dazzling, inventive guitarist, with lightning-fast fingerpicking, jaw-dropping, unconventional percussive guitar techniques and the possessor of an unforgettable, honeyed, gravelly growl of a voice that belies his age and background.

John is, in fact, the son of a preacher. He grew up in Devon listening to Muddy Waters, Ry Cooder and Paul Simon and was given his first guitar at the age of 11.

As a teenager, he discovered Pink Moon by Nick Drake and Bert And John by Bert Jansch and John Renbourn and shut himself away in his bedroom, learning every last note…

By the time he emerged, he was ready to dazzle an unsuspecting public with his guitar skills… so when, as a Uni student, he was asked to make up the numbers in the main competition while stewarding at the Bath International Guitar Festival, John made an immediate impression. He won the event.

As a result, John came to the notice of top guitar players, including Eric Roche, who showed him various percussive techniques, and John Martyn, with whom Smith subsequently toured three times. In fact, John has toured relentlessly over the past few years, gaining a devoted grassroots following, and has featured on the bills of all the top folk guitarists – John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Davy Graham – and supported mainstream acts like Jools Holland and David Gray.

When eventually John was heard by producer Jason Boshoff, plans were hatched for an adventure which led to the stunning new album 'Map or Direction'.

Heading Stateside for a couple of weeks, the pair hired a car and drove into America’s Deep South, armed with recording equipment and instruments and a determination to find unusual field locations for the project. The result is the most atmospheric, wonderfully engaging series of tracks, many recorded out in the open air…

John’s self-penned songs sound as if they are hewn from the rich seam of the tradition, yet nine of the 10 tracks are entirely his own, the other a stunningly original and dramatic interpretation of traditional folk song 'Death And The Lady'…

The locations are a work of genius, adding an intimacy to the performances that totally immerses the listener in the world of each song, taking them to the very heart and emotion of each story.

The album opens with the tale of the ghostly 'Invisible Boy', recorded in the middle of a bamboo forest near Nagchez, South Mississippi, with chirrupping insects, bird calls and the lonely whistling of the wind providing the eerie backdrop to the heart-rending, quiet song with its beautiful, gentle melody.

In contrast, the visceral 'Axe Mountain', with vocals ranging from a gentle growl to a full-bodied bluesy roar, is an epic, blood-curdling tale of a serial killer and storytelling at its dramatic best, all given an extra dimension by being performed to a background of birdsong and shotgun fire in a clearing in a forest in Mississippi.

'Watch Her Die', with its bleak, dark lyrics, urgent driving banjo, and rhythmic percussion, meanwhile, seems perfectly suited to the recording’s location – under a church on stilts on the bayou in Louisiana.

Equally, the bottle-neck guitar of instrumental 'Oliver' seems completely in keeping with the ambience provided by the sounds from the train tracks outside Smithville, Texas…

Fittingly, many tracks on the album speak of wandering, moving away, traveling, searching, themes ideally reflected in its peripatetic recording as it moves from a tiny motel bathroom in Austin Texas, to a saloon in Lafayette, from Vermilion Bay in Louisiana, to Piety Street Studios in New Orleans and the Abita Springs Mystery House north of Lake Pontchatrain…

The songs are timeless and heartfelt, atmospheric and earthy, yet with a dark, romantic beauty all of their own…The location recording gives an immediacy to the performances: you hear the finger on fret, the creak of wood, the rattle of strings, and at once are right there with John on the bayou, in the forest, by the lake, on the porch…

Remember the name… this John Smith is definitely one of a kind.

Tracklisting

1. Invisible Boy
2. Hands
3. Axe Mountain
4. A Long Way For A Woman
5. Another Country
6. The Fear, The Horror
7. Oliver
8. Watch Her Die
9. Swords
10. Death And The Lady

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