CHRIS SMITHER http://www.chrissmither.com Great art looks simple. Great music sounds easy - as inexorable and inevitable as the change of seasons or sunrise and sunset. The bluesmen on the Delta and the Appalachian mountaineers made timeless art with just voice, guitar and a stomping foot. And that is the root of the art of Chris Smither. Over the last decade Smither has released one gem of an album after another. His music draws as deeply from the blues as it does from American folk music, modern poets and humanist philosophers. STEREO REVIEW: "Smither recasts the folk blues in the ethereal language of the poet, projecting a kind of streetwise mysticism." Chris Smither's audience, which hails from all global regions, perfectly reflects the diversity of his sources. Guitar-heads are drawn to Smither's Lightnin' Hopkins/John Hurt derived fretwork; spiritual seekers nod in recognition at the hard-won knowledge casually tossed off in his lyrics. And just plain music fans who have come to Smither on their own - or have learned of his music from the multitude of artists covering his songs - return again and again. Smither's last studio album, the four-stars-from Rolling Stone DRIVE YOU HOME AGAIN was a full-tilt studio romp; 2000's LIVE AS I'LL EVER BE was a one-man tour-de-force. With TRAIN HOME, his 11th recording, Smither shows again how it should be done. TRAIN HOME is simultaneously sparse and utterly assured - a drum-tight masterwork. Producer David "Goody" Goodrich is a master of ambient sound, never weighing the songs with extraneous instrumentation, always giving them just what they need. You won't hear a rhythm loop, a sample, a false note or a forced emotion. What you will hear is superb music, born of wisdom and tempered in the fire of live performance. On TRAIN HOME, Smither, Goodrich, and engineer Mark Thayer eschew current musical trends but do exercise freedom from typical studio constraints. Over a six-week period, basic tracks for TRAIN HOME were recorded in the relaxed environment of Smither's home near Boston. Additional tracks were recorded in a Palmer, Massachusetts studio. Smither debuts seven outstanding original songs on TRAIN HOME, ranging from the humorous, self-deprecatory stolen-car narrative "Let It Go" to the breathlessly wondrous "Never Needed It More" to the complex meditations on death and transcendence on the title track. All are the sketchbook masterpieces of "a wandering Zen troubadour with a blue guitar, a hot fingerpicking style and a gravelly voice that could make any material sound deep and cool" (Associated Press). The lyrics simply amaze and the rhythms fit each song in brilliant counterpoint. From delicate finger-picked melodies ("Outside In," "Confirmation") to the muscular bluesy stomp of "Call Time," Smither is a master of the four-minute journey into the dark night of man's soul. OLLABELLE http://www.ollabellemusic.com/ Drawing both inspiration and materials from a deep well of rural American roots music--including gospel, blues, bluegrass, and country--Ollabelle reimagines these sounds for contemporary audiences, honoring the spirit and substance of the original sources while allowing this music to live and flourish in a post-modern era. An egalitarian sextet whose members' r