Smithfield Honest Trio Made Music Collectively for 50 Years

By MELINDA MARTINEZ, Alexandria City Discuss

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — The final 50 years have been a “Charmer” for Smithfield Honest.

Again within the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties, the band was as soon as referred to as Charmer. And despite the fact that it was modified in 1989, many within the space nonetheless know them by that title.

“We had been a giant presence in the course of the late ’70s-early ‘80s on the Cotton Gin Restaurant,” stated Alexandria native Dudley-Brian Smith in a cellphone interview from Baton Rouge. “And so lots of our viewers members from Cenla bear in mind us each from the Cotton Gin and beneath the title of Charmer which we modified our title from in 1989. Similar band completely different title.”

To have fun their musical milestone the trio made up of Smith, his spouse Jan Smith and brother Bob Smith, of Alexandria, have launched their fiftieth anniversary celebration assortment, “A Place in Your Coronary heart.” This marks their thirty fifth album.

Fourteen of the band’s signature songs spanning these 50 years resembling “To Louisiana,” “Goodbye Previous Buddy,” “Chasing Leaves in a Storm” and “A Place In Your Coronary heart” seem on the album. The songs had been chosen based mostly on viewers requests, stated Smith, who based the band.

Their music, he stated, “falls most simply into the ‘acoustic pop’ or ‘people pop’ classes, additionally resonating in ‘vocal pop’ due to the tight harmonies.”

Smith stated their connection to Central Louisiana isn’t solely of their upbringing but in addition goes deeper into the world’s musical surroundings. He and Bob “bought all types of influences” rising up as a result of Central Louisiana is the crossroads of the state.

“Our father was a swing and church musician and mom a requirements singer on the radio there,” he stated. “We mix these sounds from our youth of swamp pop, gospel, pop, classical, Celtic, swing and extra into an amalgam that’s each hopeful and reminiscent. So many reminiscences of Cenla are woven into the lyrics, too, a usually carefree and idyllic time.”

Jan, Smith stated, brings each religious songs plus people and pop into the combination.

“She’s a giant Linda Ronstadt fan,” he stated. “So we kind of amalgamate all of these issues and create this type of music. There’s swamp pop. There’s gospel. There are blues. There’s jazz. There’s swing. There’s Celtic music. There’s a wide selection of issues that we draw from and all of it finds its place in these songs.”

That is what Smithfield Honest does and has all the time completed, stated Smith.

“Again to the very early days we’d write our songs,” he stated. “We’d give you preparations. And someplace in there, we adapt and draw from a wide range of traditions.”

Through the years, Smith believes their music has gotten tighter as they’ve been via a number of completely different aspect paths.

“For 20 years, we had been heavy into Scottish music, which is our heritage,” he stated. “We grew up on these songs. So we moved into that at a time the place there was a giant people revival of Celtic music in America – and everywhere in the world truly. We bought the advantage of that using that wave of Celtic music, bought our music out everywhere in the world. We signed with Centaur Data and all of a sudden, we had been a giant presence in Celtic music.”

Then, the motion pale and so they went again into normal music.

“However we went again into our unique materials with a greater sense of what sort of assertion we wished to make,” stated Smith. “We wished to make hopeful music – sturdy melodies and massive harmonies. And fewer dependence on exterior artists as effectively.”

The group nonetheless maintains ties to Central Louisiana. Bob lives and works right here, stated Smith. Bob and their different brother Joel, they’re proprietors of Saxon Studio in Bunkie. The enterprise additionally sells the band’s CDs.

“Our photograph remains to be on the window of the previous River Metropolis Music Heart on DeSoto, and we’ve got many, many long-standing buddies there,” stated Smith. “We really feel like Smithfield Honest’s music resonates with the Alexandria-Pineville space.”

They’ve additionally carried out periodically on the Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Heart and the Hearn Theatre in downtown Alexandria. They’ve additionally been a part of the “A-City Evenings” live performance sequence hosted by the Arts Council of Central Louisiana.

“We even performed an impromptu efficiency on the Tamp & Grind,” he stated referring to the espresso store in downtown Alexandria. “And naturally over time, we performed all the pieces from the Coliseum to the golf equipment there.”

The band hopes to have the ability to carry out in Central Louisiana quickly, he stated. Proper now they’re taking a break after recording and releasing their newest album. They’ve upcoming performances scheduled within the fall for locations like Dallas and Pensacola, Florida.

“However we do hope to come back again to Alexandria quickly. So within the fall or early subsequent 12 months, we’ll be again there,” stated Smith.

Along with Saxon Studio, their albums can be found on their web site smithfieldfair.com, amazon.com and on all streaming companies.

As to why his first title and center names are hyphenated, Smith stated he moved to Baton Rouge after working in Nashville – and there have been two Dudley Smiths. One was a gospel preacher and singer and the opposite was a rustic and western singer. So he determined to make use of his first and center names to set himself aside from them. And, he added, he put the hyphen in between “simply to ensure each names get placed on the web page and that reinforces that this isn’t these guys.”

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