Ears rejoice!! Two of the charter inductees of the yet to be built Singer/Songwriter-Americana Hall of Fame have new discs this month. I can envision the Hall of Fame now. Likely located in Austin; no fancy glitzy stuff, in fact the floor is likely sawdust covered and sticky from the Lone Star spilled on it. The cafeteria serves bbq brisket, but no salads. Two of the first busts you come upon in the Singer-Songwriter Wing are Guy Clark and Chris Smither.
Guy Clark’s new cd is entitled Somedays The Song Writes You and contains tunes the master songwriter has written with other people; some old friends of his (Rodney Crowell) and three with newer songwriters Ashley Monroe, Patrick Davis and Jedd Hughes, continuing his collaborations with younger songwriters. His recent tradition has been to have one of his best friend Townes Van Zandt’s tunes on his cds; this time it is If I Needed You which Clark says Townes wrote while living with he and his wife Susanna.
Gems on this new disc include the title tune and the eerie tune The Guitar, a story song in the vein of The Devil Went Down To Georgia.
Chris Smither’s new cd is entitled Time Stands Still and incorporates Smither’s usual wit and ferocious guitar playing. 
This disc is Smither’s eleventh studio album in a long career. Smither says this disc is one of the most stripped down of his career, with just himself at his finger-picking best along with producer David “Goody” Goodrich on guitars and Zak Trojano on drums. The disc includes three cover tunes, including Dylan’s It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry and Mark Knoeffler’s Madame Geneva’s. The disc also includes I Don’t Know, Smither’s first ever tune about parenthood inspired by the daughter he and his wife adopted.
If you plan on being a singer-songwriter you might as well go pick up discs by both of these guys, as both will likely be part of your first year curriculum!
Seeing Smither live is a true delight. Coincidentally, the last time I saw him he was performing in a guitar pull, a group of four singer/songwriter guitarists on one stage playing together and by themselves. This style of performance was introduced in 1990 at a series of Marlboro Music Festival performances by none other than Guy Clark!
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