Library Rock's Backpages

Chris Smith

Chris Smith

Chris Smith is the author of five books and hundreds of articles in magazines such as Rolling Stone, Men’s Journal, and the Tyee. He now teaches cultural criticism at the University of British Columbia, and is the founder of the Canada Party and author of America, but Better: the Canada Party Manifesto.

19 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Brian Kennedy

Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, March 1998

BRIAN KENNEDY is caught between a pillow and a soft place. On the one hand, he's an emerging solo artist whose debut album in 1990 ...

The Chieftains: Paddy Moloney: The Abundant Life of The Chieftains

Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, March 1998

IF YOU'VE EVER visited Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the most memorable legs of the tour (not quite as touching as the meditation garden ...

Paul Brady: The Ever-Changing World of Paul Brady

Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, March 1998

A MENTOR ONCE told me there were two rules to writing about other people's lives: First, always remember that as the journalist, you're not the ...

The Guiness Fleadh

Report by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, March 1998

IF YOU HAD said to someone twenty years ago that Ireland was hot, they would have assumed you'd never been, because, truthfully, the place is ...

Peter, Paul & Mary: What Makes A Song Endure

Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, May 1998

IT'S APRIL, 2048, the year of the cockroach. The lines curve out the door of Radio City Music Hall, around the block, and down Sixth ...

John Martyn (1998)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1998

We start with Smith's second attempt at interviewing Martyn: the Scottish bard on his covers album The Church of the One Bell; on starting out as a musician; on his influences such as Davey Graham and the impressionist composers; on writing 'Solid Air' for (and about) Nick Drake. Following that, we present Smith's first attempt at the interview, in which a soused Martyn slurs about impressionism, drink and religion, and tells incomprehensible jokes.

File format: mp3; file size: 38.2mb, interview length: 39' 49" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Tori Amos: The Loudest Voice in the Chair

Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, September 1998

My scream got lost in a paper cup you think there's a heaven where some screams have gone?I've got twenty-five bucks and a cracker do ...

Willie Nelson (1998)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 8 September 1998

The outlaw-country icon talks about what makes Texas such fertile ground for songwriters and musicians; about his discovery of the Austin scene; his early years as a writer in Nashville, and pitching 'Crazy' to Patsy Cline; the struggle to break through as an artist, and at some length about songwriting.

File format: mp3; file size: 23.9mb, interview length: 24' 51" sound quality: ****

Willie Nelson: The Lone Star Spirit of Willie Nelson

Profile and Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, December 1998

THERE WAS, of course, Texas music before Willie. Problem was, nobody outside of Texas heard it. The eclectic styles growing from lone star roots before ...

Woody Guthrie: Nora Guthrie on her father Woody (1999)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 15 January 1999

Nora Guthrie talks about setting up the Woody Guthrie archive: discovering, preserving and cataloging old paperwork; the involvement of archivist Jorge Arevalo; setting up the travelling exhibit with the Smithsonian; taking it to Woody's home state of Oklahoma; the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tribute concert, tribute albums by other artists, and putting Woody into a present day context with the help of artists like Billy Bragg.

File format: mp3; file size: 52mb, interview length: 54' 11" sound quality: ***

Chris Smither: Accoustic Blues

Profile and Interview by Chris Smith, Revue, 13 May 1999

DESPITE HIS UNPARALLELED folk-blues guitar work, a voice that seems to channel ancient, Appalachian spirits, and near-legendary status in folk-circles, Chris Smither has never been ...

Townes Van Zandt: A Far Cry From Dead

Review by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, 15 July 1999

STEVE EARLE ONCE gushed, "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the world, and I'd stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my boots ...

Spirit of '69 Woodstock Alive At Falcon Ridge

Comment by Chris Smith, Billboard, 14 August 1999

BLAME IT ON the heat. Blame it on poor security. Blame it on the cause/effect relationship between artist persona and audience behavior. Blame it on ...

Mary Gauthier (1999)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 September 1999

Ms. Gauthier talks about her road from a tricky childhood, via addiction and alcoholism, to her place as a songwriter: ambition vs. self-destruction; her community of outsiders; the meaning of truth; her move to Boston and running restaurants; doing her first open-mic nights, and all about songwriting.

File format: mp3; file size: 30.9mb, interview length: 32' 11" sound quality: ***

Mary Gauthier: The Darker Side of Dixie

Interview by Chris Smith, Rockrgrl, January 2000

MIDNIGHT HAS LONG since passed, and we're sitting in the dim alley behind the legendary Club Passim in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The fire ...

Sinead O'Connor (2002)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 30 August 2002

Sinead talks about "de-Enya-ing" her first album; her new album of traditional Irish songs Sean-Nós Nua; her love of American music; the cultural benefits of ethnic immigration into Ireland; the current state of Irish music; the difference between performing her own songs and covering others'; collaborating with Massive Attack and, possibly, Buju Banton!

File format: mp3; file size: 13.4mb, interview length: 14' sound quality: ** (phoner)

Alan Lomax: A Life Less Ordinary

Obituary by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, September 2002

SUMMING UP ALAN LOMAX'S contributions to folk music in a single magazine article is like trying to list everyone you've ever met on a single ...

Janis Joplin: Got Them Battlin' Janis Bio Blues

Report by Chris Smith, Texas Music, Summer 2005

AH JANIS. OK, so you gave us an alternate spelling for 'cosmic,' helped corral all the hippies into San Francisco, proved white people can sing ...

Meat Loaf: The Meat Goes On

Comment by Chris Smith, Texas Music, Summer 2005

"BITCH TITS." That's the first thing that comes to mind whenever we think of Meat Loaf anymore. ...

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE