Chris Smither
 Bonnie Raitt may call Chris Smither "my Eric
Clapton," but Smither's importance has less to do with instrumental
prowess than with fusing sonic textures and with finely crafted lyrics.
Smither's best songs aspire to poetic insights via the blues, evoking troubled,
complicated moods through the incessant, slinky groove of his guitar. Working again
with session player and producer Stephen Bruton, Smither weds lilting acoustic
blues arrangements with more ambitious, spacious sounds--including diverse
percussive rhythms, piano, organ, and blues harp. The sonics are at times
reminscent of Daniel Lanois's work with Bob Dylan. Smither's most memorable
original work isn't found on this, his ninth album, though it may be his best
collection. The only misstep is the zydeco jaunt "Tell Me Why You Love
Me," which sounds out of place amid all the eerie meditations. In
Smither's vision, folk music, like life, plays out "in very complicated
measures / And they can't be simplified / If we just keep this together / All
the rest is justified." And he shows the same intensity in his choice of
covers, especially Tim Hardin's gorgeous "Don't Make Promises," here
found in its definitive version. --Roy Kasten
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