Live As I'll Ever Be;

The accomplished Smither, after 30-odd years of performing and recording, has carved out a distinctive musicality and a close relationship with his audience. This live record makes letter-perfect use of both attributes. A far cry from 1999's excellent but instrumentally diverse Drive You Home Again, this is a spare, intimate recording featuring just guitar and voice. But what a guitar, and oh, what a voice. Gravelly, light, and tuneful, with a plaintive nasal pinch that bleeds wisdom and salvation, he rhymes his storylike lyrics around effortless guitar twangs and a simple tap meter, entertaining very lucky and appreciative live audiences with guile and an astute sense of observation. Songs like "Cave Man," from 1997's Small Revelations, find an easy soulfulness in their unadorned settings, and show off just how skilled Smither's songwriting has become. Other tunes leave an endearing impression of hopeful whimsy, as tracks like "Winsome Smile" trace a lover's almost pathological grip on his precious melancholy. Smither's deserved popularity has landed him in larger and larger venues for the last several years, but this disc reveals the musician's heart is still grounded in those intimate coffeehouses, bars, and sidewalk cafés, where acoustic songcraft has always flourished. --Matthew Cooke