David G. Smith

Hero Street

Independent

David G. Smith is an Americana singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. He has hosted shows at the Bluebird Cafe since the mid-2000s. He released his album debut and received a Robert K. Oermann DisCovery Award in 2011. David’s album “One House” appeared on the No Depression list of “10 Terrific Albums To Listen To Right Now.” His album “First Love” reached #1 on the Roots Music Iowa Album Chart in 2016. Guest artists include Keb’ Mo’ and Mary Gauthier. One of David’s songs, “Angels Flew,” is listed on the 9/11 Memorial Museum Artist Registry. His song “Made For You” won first place in the Country category in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition. David’s song “Sunday Morning Drive,” co-written with Anne E. DeChant, reached #1 on the Roots Music Alt Folk Chart in 2015. This is David’s ninth album overall.

Musicians on “Hero Street” include David on piano, acoustic guitar, and vocals; Juan Solorzano on steel, slide acoustic, and electric guitars; Dan Mitchell on piano, Mellotron, Hammond B-3, and horns; Lex Price on bass; and Neilson Hubbard on drums and percussion. The backing vocalist is Mia Winsinski. All songs are written by David, except for seven songs co-written with Tom Favreau. The album was engineered and recorded by Dylan Alldrege at the Skinny Elephant Recording Studio in East Nashville. The album was mixed and produced by Hubbard.

The album opens with the atmospheric title track “Hero Street,” as David sings “Mexican revolution families fleeing for their lives, a dime in New Loredo got them over the borderline, Rock Island Railroad jobs got ’em on their feet, a little bit of hope sprung outta the mud down here on Hero Street. They lived in boxcar houses, built a boxcar church, strangers in a strange land, giving thanks to be able to work, Through soot and smoke and bitter cold, through suffocating heat, a little bit of pride grew outta the mud down on Hero Street. No greater love, brother, then to lay down your life for another, down on Hero Street.” This song is featured on the soundtrack of “Hero Street: The Last To Fall” episode on the nine-part film series as seen on PBS.

On “Days Of Babel,” David chimes “Hear the sound, here it comes like the beating of a 1000 drums, many voices, many tongues, can’t hear a thing above the rabble. Social media, hate or love her, say your piece and run for cover, can’t even understand each other, like in the Days Of Babel. Livin’ like in the Days Of Babel, the tower crumbling into gravel, look at all the ways we’re livin’ like in the Days Of Babel. Watch a screen, watch what crawls, Twitter mobs and Facebook brawls spewing hate and vitriol, in a dangerous battle. Family and friends erased can’t even talk face to face, what a world, what a waste, like in the Days Of Babel.”

“Rust On The Moon,” with some more atmospheric bass, features David as he chants “Heard it on the news, they found rust on the moon, no one thought it was possible, but hey. Scientists are askin’ how this could even happen, anything is possible I say. Like you, Like you amazing, surprising like spider finger lightning. It’s gotta be like finding, rust on the moon. Ancient cosmic glow, what else does it know, anything to tell us who we are, holding us in place, grounding us in space, companion on our journey through the stars. Come out of nowhere, stardust and thin air, who knew, needles in haystacks, what are the odds that I’d find somebody like you…I heard it on the news, they found rust on the moon…what are the odds I’d find somebody like you.”

On “Green Fire,” with some great piano from Mitchell and steel guitar from Solorzano, David bursts “Inside the Gila, the canyons and the hoodoos, lives an ancient spirit among the cedars and the jujubes, this spirit carries a fire in his eyes, the light of the living and we should pray it never dies. Home of the Apache, the hedgehog and the hawk, where hot springs whisper and I swear the willow thickets talk. In the fading twilight you’ll hear the whoosh of spotted owls, in the sacred silence that ancient spirit howls. Green Fire, shines out from the mountain, One we all look out from, one we all have to climb, Green Fire burns fierce for the ages, it’s a fire that will save us, unless we let it die. It’s the light of the living we should pray it never dies. There’s something wild that croes out from the ridgeline, sends shivers down my spine, stirs something in my soul, calls out from the shadows and beckons from the underbrush. Doesn’t what’s out there live in all of us.”

“Broken…Open” features David as he groans “I didn’t know, I’m still learning, when the fire started and why it’s still burning, I’ve been Broken…Open. I was innocent but now I’m not. I’ve been held, I’ve been dropped. I’ve been Broken…Open. Break me once, break me twice, every time you break me I can see a little more light. Throw me down n’ leave me on the ground Broken …Open. I’ve seen the devil, I’ve seen disaster, I’ve seen a vision of what really matters, I’ve been Broken…Open. Call me Buddha, call me Job, call me Charlie Brown. Hell, I don’t know, but I’ve been Broken…Open. Down into the fire I keep goin’, I could give up and I could be broken. Break me once, break me twice, every time you break me, I can see a little more light. Throw me down n’ leave me on the ground Broken…Open. I can either be broken or Broken…Open.”

On “In The Back Row,” the guitar picking reminds me of Eric Andersen or Tom Paxton, as David moans “The awkward and the too tall, the timid and the too small, the outcasts in the bathroom for a smoke. The quiet ones who suffered, stammered and stuttered, always on the butt-end of a joke. We were so different, the unsure and the innocent. The rebels and the dissidents you pretended not to know. We flunked a few back in those days but we made the grade in other ways, let’s hear it for the kids, and anyone who sits in The Back Row. We became bus drivers, soldiers, and songwriters, missionaries helping those in need. We’ve been to the moon and back, each of us found our own path, hey not bad for those most likely never to succeed. No dates, heartbreaks, lost friends, brave face we all fought our battles. Front or middle wasn’t there a little bit of back row in all of us.”

“Walking Each Other Home” features David as he belts “She took him in she knew the drill. His Semper Fi was as strong as her will. 2 years driftin’ from place to place, he was wanting no mercy seeking no grace. Anger is a flame he always kept lit, but she had a message that cut to the quick, what’s done is done, what’s gone is gone, the hard part now is moving on. No one has to walk alone, down any road on their own. No one has to walk alone, if we’re walkin’ each other home. He lost his buddy her son, her baby. Both knew the hell of feeling ‘nothing can save me’. A bomb in the sand, only he survived That was the day he died inside. I should stop asking why, but I won’t. The world moves on but I don’t. She said trust me I know what you mean. I’m not dead or alive just something in between. Can’t make the truth a liar when it comes down to the wire. No one has to walk into the fire alone. She said you see what’s taken, I see what we’re needing, a way to give his life some meaning, let’s make a promise we both keep. I won’t give up on you, don’t you give up on me. What’s done is done. What’s gone is gone. Two wounded souls, movin’ on.”

On “Angelina,” David wails “She knows death and hears the bell, feels it toll inside herself, believes in heaven more than hell, but still she cannot pray. First Mercedes in Leon, blessed be that child gone, then her Pedro he passed on, lost on Devil’s Highway. Angelina, used to dance with all her children to the music on the radio, now it stands silent as she gathers up her babies, holds ’em close she’ll never let ’em go no, she’ll never let ’em go. Frank came after brother Joe, they bought her that radio. Born in Little Mexico her two hero sons. Joe was taken in the war, she lost Frank the year before. She can’t take it anymore, how deep her sorrow runs. How much sadness can one woman face, Oh please Mary full of grace, what’s a mother going to do, when the bells all toll for you.”

“My Finger Talkin'” features David as he howls “Out on the road I see it all. People driving crazy cutting me off, I wanna slap somebody makes me so mad, yea my mouth is squawkin’ but don’t mind me that’s just my finger talkin’. Politicians talk about rot, taking us all for everything we got, I wanna smack somebody upside the head, yea my tonque is squawkin’ but don’t mind me that’s just my finger talkin’. I don’t wonder what Johnny Cash would do, he’s been known to let his finger do the talkin’ too, he wouldn’t mince words, he wouldn’t freak, he wouldn’t go all Jesus and turn the other cheek. The price for livin’ is taking its toll, gonna put in the poorhouse and steal my soul, I wanna find whoever’s in charge and make them pay. I’m feeling home alone like McCauley Caukin but don’t mind me that’s just my finger talkin’.”

On the topical “Rachel’s Story,” David shouts “Rachel is my neighbor, likes to plant seeds, I mow her grass, she gives tomatoes to me. She’s got told you so eyes and a wicked grin, cornrow curls fall on ebony skin. Rachel reads the Torah, her tabby on her lap, mosquitoes buzz her porch-light, her hands go slap-slap! Love know what’s right, love knows what’s wrong, love finds a way, all day long. Rachel is a teacher, works over 40 hours a week, volunteers at the food bank just down the street. She talks about her family, they’re all pretty tight. Somebody’s over to visit almost every night. When I first met Rachel, she told me she was gay. Married to Aisha, their first baby on the way. She’s no serial killer, she doesn’t make bombs, she’s somebody’s sweetie, a good neighbor and a great mom. Some suits came around, with their sirens and their lights, woke up the neighborhood in the middle of the night. They flashed a badge, read her her rights, then arrested Rachel and her way of life! I don’t sleep well these days, I’m restless on my head, I keep thinking if they can come for Rachel, who’s next!”

“Thoughts & Prayers” features David as he declares “Thoughts & prayers. let’s be real, thoughts and prayers do not heal, the grief we bear, the face we wear, the vacant stare into nothing. Another graveside, no one saved by thoughts and prayers. Maybe there’s one thought we have yet to discover, when we choose to take care of each other, but for the loss we share, for our sons and daughters, there is no prayer, just holy water.”

On the closer, “Hymn To Humanity,” David croons “You go on by going in, rough water on top don’t bother the ocean, make the leap, take the swim, dive in. I don’t know if we can make it, I don’t know how much longer we can take it. Maybe our time has finally come, maybe we’re at the end of our run. I’m not here to say it’s so, I can’t say cuz I don’t know, but what I want to say is this, the ride, the ride is glorious…we go on by going in.”

David G. Smith takes you for a reflective walk along “Hero Street.” The vocals are inspired, layered in a late-career, black-coffee manner. David is a wordsmith with unusual insight. “Hero Street” is his journey.

Richard Ludmerer

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