 PHIL SMITH
Country/Americana/Rock
Brisbane. QLD
Australia.
www.myspace.com/philsmith70
www.phil-smith.com.au
Phil Smith is an independent Brisbane based artist who has just released his debut LP Goldmine. Self financed, Goldmine is 11 tracks of late night Americana influenced alternate country. Full of piano, Tamworth's Leigh Ivin on pedal steel, and a guest performance by Australia's own Bill Chambers, Goldmine is a confident first step in what should be an exciting career for this promising Australian singer songwriter.
Born in Sydney, Smith started playing the guitar at the age of 15. He spent the next 10 years playing lead guitar in bands and studying jazz which gave him the strong sense of melody evident in his songwriting.
He spent his twenties and the best part of his thirties travelling Australia and the world and it was during this time he started writing his own songs. Initially heavily influenced by the likes of Nick Drake and Beth Orton, he discovered alt-country through bands like Wilco and Whiskeytown. Gillian Welch later became a strong influence, as did Neil Young.
Phil has just started performing again in Brisbane with a full band, and with another two LP's already written and a slew of unfinished material, 2009 is shaping up as a busy year for this talented Australian singer songwriter.
Goldmine (2008)
Kick out the dinner guests, kick off your shoes, grab that last bottle of red and your loved one, and get comfortable for this 51 minute debut from Australian singer songwriter Phil Smith.
Eleven tracks of love, loss and redemption, Goldmine will sit comfortably with fans of Americana and good old fashioned storytelling.
From the upbeat Annie and the redemptive Baby Doll, featuring Australian country star Kasey Chambers' father Bill on dobro and mandolin, to the reflective Where Does It Go? a waltz sung with Roz Pappalardo from folk legends Women In Docs, this is an album that gets better with every listen.
Recorded in a small house in the dark hills of northern New South Wales, interwoven with piano and pedal steel, these well crafted songs take us on a journey to the heartland of Smith's own experiences, and with another two albums already written, 2009 promises to be a busy year for this Australian artist.
Hop on and enjoy the ride.
CD review Phil Smith (Feb 09)
'Hi, I'm Phil Smith'. That's the start of the letter we received from this Australian (Brisbane) singer-songwriter as an attachment to his new CD 'Goldmine'. He was born in Sydney, in the summer of 1970, and at age 15 he started to play the acoustic guitar. Leaving Australia at age 26 with his guitar on his back he spent 6 years in the U.K, Including Bristol, and London where he started his first band. In 2003 he returned to Australia to be with his dying father. His first EP 'Desire' came out in 2007, with 'Time To Be A Man' being a tribute to his father. Next, he started to compose songs for 'Goldmine'.
Phil Smith gives us 11 songs on his debut album, in a style we can describe as Americana inspired country and folk songs. Being a Nick Drake, Ryan Adams, Neil Young and James Taylor fan, he decided to dedicate himself to this style of music. Just like his idol Ryan Adams, he too wants to make lovely, melodious songs telling an enchanting story. The lyrics give us an insight into the things he's been through in his turbulent life, and those things he's still suffering from. They explain stories of love and losing love, drink, drugs and their consequences, traveling and the longing to find a home.
The album was recorded in a remote house in northern New South Wales and is mainly based upon acoustic guitar, but with the subtle addition of other instruments like piano, pedal steel, organ and violin. Most of the songs that made the album are melancholic contemplations, like the country ballad '(I'll Walk The Line) One More Time', 'Blackbird', 'Everybody's Going Somewhere', Where Does It Go?' with the lovely backing vocals of Roz Pappalardo, the sad 'The Grave Of Margaritis', 'Home Around Three' and 'Mary'. Fortunately Smith gives us an up tempo song now and then, like 'Annie' and 'Baby Doll'. In 'One More For The Road' we can find both tempos, starting with the slow beginning and altered with the swinging pedal steel solo and outro chorus. Sara Tindley provides the amazingly beautiful backing vocals for this one.
If Phil Smith was trying to make a record creating the same sort of melancholy vibe that has won Ryan Adams so many fans, then he has succeeded gloriously. And with Adams recently announcing his (supposed) retirement, his successor may well have arrived, in Phil Smith, looking for his own 'Goldmine'.
cdbaby.com/cd/smithphil
philsmithandthelights@gmail.com
www.myspace.com/philsmithandthelights
www.philsmithandthelights.com
|
.png "Got MySpace?")
