Corey Smith and Adam Ezra

January 25, 2012

The Iron Horse

Northampton MA

A night of stories and songs at the famed Pioneer Valley venue featured two great song writers. In his first appearance in Northampton, Georgia's Corey Smith showed the Yankee crowd some southern hospitality, serving up a heaping pile of songs about friends, family, and good times.

First up though was Yankee songsmith Adam Ezra. Those who have seen him with the Adam Ezra Group know that he is particularly huggable- an emotional song writer who bares his soul nightly with the band. In this setting, an unplugged singer songwriter forum, he is even more naked and bared- completely exposing himself musically and emotionally on stage. He engaged the crowd with stories about the origins and feelings behind his songs, and people loved it.

In a short set, Ezra was able to touch on material both from his new album, Ragtop Angel, and his older material. A nice tale of New England mill towns and the travels of a man spreading his music while traveling between them gave way to the song Taking Off. A great cover of Blind Faith's Can't Find My Way Home invited the listeners to come even closer by featuring material that they knew, even if they didn't know Adam from.. well, Adam. She's Just a Girl was a welcome emotional change- a sometimes snarky and snide commentary on friends who are new lovers, despite the author's shared past with one of them. The change in mood was welcome, as it provided a dissonance emotionally- diminishing the risk for Ezra of being too positive within such an intimate setting. Don't worry about Adam going negative though, his positivity shines through his material, and even the snarkiness of a song like this does not dim his ordinarily bright light.

After a short break, Corey Smith took the stage. A gentile southern gentleman only partly describes him. The model is interesting- we are not typically used to the vocals of a songwriter delivering their material with the twang that Smith employs. For us northerners, country music is a full band medium. Though I'm sure that coffee houses from Marietta to Baton Rouge are filled with aspiring singer songwriters, the sound is foreign to us up here north of the Mason Dixon line. Otherwise, the methods were familiar- clever and funny tales and descriptions of the song origins were delivered before tight and concise deliveries of the songs themselves.

Smith is an interesting southern good ol' boy. He does not wave the rebel flag, but does not hide it either. His range of emotional content within the songs is far wider and deeper than you expect from its country strong delivery. Songs like Fuck the Po Po, and I Love Black People shatter the stereotypes that you might have of country music and the folks writing them. After the show, when a new fan was chatting with Smith about I Love Black People Corey commented that audiences seemed to all have a slightly uncomfortable reaction to the song's content- but audiences in different regions were uncomfortable with different parts of the song- with California audiences wincing at the rebel flag, camouflage, southern references and audiences in less diverse parts of the country reluctant to embrace the song's message of universal love of all people. "I wrote that song to shatter those stereotypes," Smith explained.

It would be easy to expect a country song writer to rap himself in the flag, to cheer about pickup trucks and Pabst Blue Ribbon. And while there is plenty of that within the material, emanating naturally from the Jefferson, Georgia native, there was as much mention of health care, unabashed rejection of authority, and oh yes, lots of songs about drinking and the troubles that friends find after they have had a few.

Corey Smith comes off as a very likeable character. Both proud of his roots and willing to challenge them, he seems like a guy you would have a really good time hanging out with.. His laugh comes naturally both in the stories and in the songs themselves- and his fans seem to have that type of genuine connection to him that all artists crave.

Smith and Ezra were the perfect combination- both exuding an approachability within their songs, a desire to express their life experiences directly from their guitars and vocals to an eager audience. This was the first night of a four night run, and you can tell that the two would become fast friends throughout the week, and fans of both will be able to mix and mingle not only now, but undoubtedly again and again as the two troubadours will certainly be meeting again down the dusty road that they are both traveling.

Upcoming tour dates:

Corey Smith acoustic with Adam Ezra.

January 26 Brighton Music Hall Boston MA

January 27 Rockwood Music Hall New York, NY

January 28 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, PA

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