Chris Smither Illuminates a Path Less Taken

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True, when he first gained national attention some forty-odd years ago, Chris Smither was associated with the folk blues movement of the time. But to dismiss him as a "modern blues"

player in 2006 indicates a lack of appreciation for the multitude of influences that drive his music. With a finger-picking guitar style that is equal parts Lightnin' Hopkins and Django Reinhart, and a baritone voice borne of Jack Daniels and Leonard Cohen, Smither transcends categorization.

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On Leave the Light On, Smither realizes his full potential in a work that is sometimes jaded, and at others almost whimsical, but always threaded with the odd coupling of romanticism and cynicism unique to the American psyche. "I'll live to be a hundred./ I was born in forty-four./ Thirty-nine to go/ But I ain't keepin' score," he laments in the title tune, setting the tone of the theme of mortality that runs through the album. It's by no means defeatist, though. Smither may be a bit long in the tooth, but he still has plenty of brimstone left in him.

And it is in striking the brimstone that Smither's genius truly lies. He's out to spark the stone, not set a fire with it. "Origin of Species" is a hilarious send-off of both intelligent design advocates and strict evolutionists told from God's point of view. Set to a Texas swing rhythm, it immediately disarms both forces through the comical logic of it all. "Diplomacy" is a commentary on current US international policy as seen through the eyes of Jerry Lee Lewis and the jukebox mentality.

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When he does play the blues, Smither has no peer among the current crop of players. Drawing on the roots of the genre, his thumb-oposing-two forefingers style of playing harkens back to the roots of recorded blues, as in his version of Hurricane James Hurt's "Blues in the Bottle."

More a tribute to his main influence, Lightnin' Hopkins, it nonetheless conjures a vision of blues at its purest--acoustic, raw and from the gut of the soul. Neo-gospel group Olladelle's back-up vocals lend an Appalachian flavor to the lilting "Seems So Real." Anita Suhanin's haunting

voice adds an atmospheric dimension to "Cold Trail Blues" and "Shillin for the Blues," serving as a perfect counterpoint to Smither's smoky leads.

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Leave the Light On is a distinctly American work, regardless of the angle from which Smither approaches any individual song. His cover of Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johanna" is turned on its side and treated as a waltz, with mesmerizing results, and his rendition of "John Hardy" is played in a manner not that far removed from the classic Carter Family recording. Musical spirits roam this album, from Delta blues to Texas swing to bluegrass to urban ballads, and Smither masterfully weaves the various idioms into a unique whole.

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Full of irony and poignancy, Leave the Light On showcases Chris Smither at what may be the pinnacle of his career. Here is an artist who has evolved over the years at his own will, and it shows on evey song on this album.

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