Josh Smith

soma1975

menamestom

Personally I think he's one of the best players around at the moment.  Mainly because he doesn't just play blues and he crosses between styles.

I don't know how the thread has descended into highlighting the fact he doesn't sound like a black 1950's blues singer.
I suppose if you only rate his blues songs with vocals output, but I think it's unfair to lump him in with the standard pot of white blooze noodlers when he covers a lot more ground than that.  It's as if the thread has chosen it's assessment metrics but can't now widen those to cover half of what the guy actually does.  

Guthrie Trapp is a really good player also. I do like the players who do blues with a country twist or country with a blues twist.
Both of them play nice Jazz also.

grappagreen

menamestom said:

Personally I think he's one of the best players around at the moment.  Mainly because he doesn't just play blues and he crosses between styles.

I don't know how the thread has descended into highlighting the fact he doesn't sound like a black 1950's blues singer.
I suppose if you only rate his blues songs with vocals output, but I think it's unfair to lump him in with the standard pot of white blooze noodlers when he covers a lot more ground than that.  It's as if the thread has chosen it's assessment metrics but can't now widen those to cover half of what the guy actually does.  

Guthrie Trapp is a really good player also. I do like the players who do blues with a country twist or country with a blues twist.
Both of them play nice Jazz also.

Couldn't agree more.. without wanting to start another flame up I think people like Josh and Matt Schofield are far more relevant than the old blues stars today. Whilst I've obviously listened to the stuff that came before I find it so dated that it's a bit of challenge to listen to personally. I could listen to Josh all day long and never tire of his genius; same for Matt's playing..

soma1975

Oh yeah I always think it's unfair to judge someone by what they are NOT as opposed to what they ARE.

Unfortunately I prefer to listen to people who combine great playing with great songs and there's enough of them out there that people like Smith and Matt Schofield I'll watch a video of theirs and be wowed, or watch their tutorials but never stick them on spotify after I have initially checked out a new release with fingers crossed. 

Even Phillip Sayce's new album is a bit wet and I previously thought he was like 1 tier up from them when he wasn't SRVing. 

Matt_McG

I really love Josh Smith's playing, but for as long as he keeps singing as much as he does, I just won't listen to his albums much. He doesn't have to sound like some grizzled African American blues man. But he just doesn't have a very good, or interesting voice.

I'll happily listen to Blake Mills, for example, who is another excellent player, even though he is by no means a "blues" singer, because his songs and his delivery are strong. I don't think the same as true for Smith.

But, he (Smith) is a fantastic improviser, and he does really interesting things with blending jazz, country, and bits of soul, gospel, and RnB playing into his blues. Which is vastly more interesting than the run of SRV imitators.

mgaw

Matt_McG said:

I really love Josh Smith's playing, but for as long as he keeps singing as much as he does, I just won't listen to his albums much. He doesn't have to sound like some grizzled African American blues man. But he just doesn't have a very good, or interesting voice.

I'll happily listen to Blake Mills, for example, who is another excellent player, even though he is by no means a "blues" singer, because his songs and his delivery are strong. I don't think the same as true for Smith.

But, he (Smith) is a fantastic improviser, and he does really interesting things with blending jazz, country, and bits of soul, gospel, and RnB playing into his blues. Which is vastly more interesting than the run of SRV imitators.

couldn't agree more, he seems to be working hard and progressing all the time, cant wait to see where he is in a year or two

kelpbeds

Love Josh. Saw him at the Bristol Jazz and Blues festival a while back and ha d a good chat with him. Brilliant player. Great technique, but not used for techniques sake. And seamlessly mixes blues, jazz and country. 

clarkefan

clarkefan said:

soma1975 said:

^^^ What he said. Marcus King is so talented that not being a stunner isn;t going to stop him. 

Simo is what he is I guess. Would rather watch him and listen to him than Josh Smith but he's probably hit a ceiling too. 

Just to say, I've seen Simo live and not Josh.
 
I agree with the opinions so far about Josh; stunning player but, so what.

I saw Robben Ford years ago in London and that gig was the only time I thought it's so boring I'll fuck off home.

Simo on the other hand is a passionate, all-in, do-or-die player.  I saw him live in Bristol for about 40 mins and he blew the fucking doors off.

Just been watching some vids and fair play the guy is bloody talented.  I was a bit unfair to him earlier.  I could learn a ton of stuff nicking just 2% of what he does.

To rephrase what I was saying, I found Simo an exciting player live, I was sort of shaken by what I saw and heard, and I don't feel that energy from Smith, or Ford, Carlton etc.

menamestom

soma1975 said:

Oh yeah I always think it's unfair to judge someone by what they are NOT as opposed to what they ARE.

Unfortunately I prefer to listen to people who combine great playing with great songs and there's enough of them out there that people like Smith and Matt Schofield I'll watch a video of theirs and be wowed, or watch their tutorials but never stick them on spotify after I have initially checked out a new release with fingers crossed. 

Even Phillip Sayce's new album is a bit wet and I previously thought he was like 1 tier up from them when he wasn't SRVing. 

I’ve seen Phillip Sayce live and he was great, very much in the loud as fuck SRV land of blues guitar.
His best song by far was definitely Cinnamon Girl which tells a lot though.

Josh Smith had several more dimensions to his playing though, as far as I can make out from what I have heard.

I’m big on instrumental stuff and Josh Smith does quite a bit.  Not everybody is though and I can see why people look for songs as opposed to grooves and tunes. The New Master Sounds are one of my favourite bands and they are very much based around funky grooves, as opposed to songs.

I guess although I sing myself, I definitely favour the guitar as my expression tool so tend appreciate guitarists who sing a bit rather than singers who guitar a bit.

Strat54

Joe Bonamassa has a new instrumental record out soon......

TINMAN82

menamestom said:

I don't know how the thread has descended into highlighting the fact he doesn't sound like a black 1950's blues singer.
I suppose if you only rate his blues songs with vocals output, but I think it's unfair to lump him in with the standard pot of white blooze noodlers when he covers a lot more ground than that.  It's as if the thread has chosen it's assessment metrics but can't now widen those to cover half of what the guy actually does.  

Not my reading of the thread at all. JS’s musicianship and talent as a guitar player (particularly weaving different styles together and going “off piste”) has been universally acknowledged.

Folk have expressed disappointment in his bland voice and songwriting. These are key ingredients for making his albums enjoyable, at least if that’s the type of album he keeps going for. An instrumental approach might be more interesting.

Lewy

menamestom said:

Personally I think he's one of the best players around at the moment.  Mainly because he doesn't just play blues and he crosses between styles.

I don't know how the thread has descended into highlighting the fact he doesn't sound like a black 1950's blues singer.
I suppose if you only rate his blues songs with vocals output, but I think it's unfair to lump him in with the standard pot of white blooze noodlers when he covers a lot more ground than that.  It's as if the thread has chosen it's assessment metrics but can't now widen those to cover half of what the guy actually does.  

Guthrie Trapp is a really good player also. I do like the players who do blues with a country twist or country with a blues twist.
Both of them play nice Jazz also.

It’s interesting you mention Guthrie because of his two albums, one is all instrumental and the other has guest singers (including the amazing Jimmy Hall who should also be added to the list of white men who can sing the blues) ... presumably because his artistic choice is to have strong vocals even if it means it’s not him front and centre the whole time.

I suppose there’s an economic imperative to try and get away with doing the singing if at all possible when it comes to touring, paying personnel etc. but I do respect the approach that says “no, because it won’t be as good as it could be”

menamestom

Lewy said:

menamestom said:

It’s interesting you mention Guthrie because of his two albums, one is all instrumental and the other has guest singers (including the amazing Jimmy Hall who should also be added to the list of white men who can sing the blues) ... presumably because his artistic choice is to have strong vocals even if it means it’s not him front and centre the whole time.

I suppose there’s an economic imperative to try and get away with doing the singing if at all possible when it comes to touring, paying personnel etc. but I do respect the approach that says “no, because it won’t be as good as it could be”

I agree, it can make for a better album.  I love the version of Mojo working with Jimmy Hall, it's great.

Both great players, perhaps JS will do an album with guest singers at some point.  The danger with that can be sometimes they can get a bit of a muso session vibe.  I do like the honesty of an artist just going with what they have laid bare.

Marc Ford is a good example.  I liked his last solo album and it was all the better because he sang.  He's in the category guitarist first singer second but it works well.   Perhaps it works better when it's not straight blues.  

menamestom

Strat54 said:

Joe Bonamassa has a new instrumental record out soon......

That could be interesting, will check it out.

Strat54

menamestom said:

Strat54 said:

Joe Bonamassa has a new instrumental record out soon......

That could be interesting, will check it out

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-Hard-Bonamassa-Sleep-Eazys/dp/B08595Z1QF/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+sleep+eazys&qid=1583911614&sr=8-1

DLM

Strat54 said:

My favourite young blues player sadly died...Sean Costello. His last album was fantastic and his playing on Susan Tedeschi's record Just Won't Burn was stellar. 

@Strat54 Thanks for that, I'd heard the name but never the playing, so I pulled up the most watched video on YouTube. What a loss. This sort of music's not exactly my main thing, but that was sublime. 

PinstripePhil

Josh is a nice guy making a living in the modern world.  I watched him at both Oxford and Peach last year.  Wasn't much different to watching him in my front room on tv; but I did my bit.  I did get to play (unplugged) his tele for a bit.  Heavy strings - as is well known - but quite easy to get around and bending them was not difficult surprisingly.  His action is ridiculously low (Steve Vai would be jealous if only he knew) which was unexpected; as was a pretty thin neck.  Kind of him to pass it across though; I thought.

All in all JS gets a thumbs up from me.

DrJazzTap

Saw his latest rig rundown.....he plays with 13s to 58 in standard tuning! That deserves respect in itself! Love his ethos of having to work for it, that's why I play with 11s..could never go up to 13s that's lunacy 

Blueingreen

These guys get criticised for "not having the songs" but I think the problem is one of context and genre.  In the mid 60s it was a lot easier to write blues based and blues-rock songs that sounded fresh.  Nowadays most efforts can't help but sound cliched, derivative and old fashioned.  There are some songs that transcend the genre by the likes of Jack White, Alabama Shakes, Black Keys, Drive By Truckers etc but they are rare enough to be the exceptions that prove the rule.  If songwriting is your thing, modern blues and blues rock probably isn't going to be.

TINMAN82

Blueingreen said:

These guys get criticised for "not having the songs" but I think the problem is one of context and genre.  In the mid 60s it was a lot easier to write blues based and blues-rock songs that sounded fresh.  Nowadays most efforts can't help but sound cliched, derivative and old fashioned.  There are some songs that transcend the genre by the likes of Jack White, Alabama Shakes, Black Keys, Drive By Truckers etc but they are rare enough to be the exceptions that prove the rule.  If songwriting is your thing, modern blues and blues rock probably isn't going to be.

Fair point.