It’s funny. I talk about the blues kind of a lot, but so much of what I talk about is upbeat, kind of happy go lucky blues. Of course, the blues is supposedly a sad style of music. Well my friends. Here’s some blues for you. You see Byther Smith is one of those cats who can write a song called ‘I don’t like to travel’ and have it come out sounding more sad than the end of Of Mice And Men.
Though he’d been playing before then, in the 1960′s Smith really became a staple in the Chicaco blues scene after intensively playing guitar under the guidence of his cousen, L.B. Lenoir. While world renowned for his honest, mornful blues sound, Smith was only able to retire from his day job at the Economy Folding Box Company in 1995. I’m a big fan of his sound.