Life seems to happen by chapters, woven together by every human emotion imaginable. The chapter at which we are now arriving in the life of Bec Smith is exciting and curious, as she is back with a new album, a new band...and a fresh start - personally and professionally. An unintentional musical hibernation has primed Smith for a much-anticipated return to the recording studio, the stage and our CD players. We, like Bec, are ready for what’s next.


Early Years – Getting Started


Before the regimented world reminds children they are to be seen and not heard, Bec Smith was already plunking out melodies on the piano at age three. Shortly thereafter, she began a rigorous schedule of piano lessons, taught at home by her mother, a music educator and trained church organist. Fortunately for us, she stuck with it, having formalized her musical education with the dreaded disciplines of form and theory. “I hated it,” Smith notes. “All I wanted to do was make up my own songs and sing.”

In middle school, Smith experienced the stage and live performance for the first time with a band. During the winters of the early 1990s, she played piano and sung to herself through the sound system at the church where her father and stepmother were Lutheran ELCA pastors. By the time she was 18, Smith had at least four albums’ worth of viable material under her belt.

Despite the joy of 88 real ivory keys on a baby grand, many songwriting piano players eventually realize that making your music portable requires picking up the guitar as well. With a newly acquired acoustic guitar in tow, Smith’s repertoire of songs only grew as she toured the Fargo/Moorhead music circuit. Soon Smith realized a move to the city was necessary if she was to be heard...and seen.


To the Twin Cities


In 1996, Smith moved to Minneapolis with her instruments, an abundance of natural and developed talent, and an album “in the can” that never saw the light of day. An opportunity to be signed to a NYC indie label proved exciting but fell flat. Losing what would have been her first album changed Smith’s perception: “I learned a lot about the music business, contracts and relationships through that experience,” she recalls. “And I learned about loss.”

Instead of giving up, she put out her self-released debut album Temper in 2001. The album was recorded with Jason Orris and Bryan Hanna at the Terrarium in Minneapolis, as well as Ev at Integral Studio in St. Paul. Studio musicians appearing on Temper include both Orris and Hanna, Mykl Westbrooks (Landing Gear), Dmitry (Shadow Box, now an NYC band known as 3rd Culture), and Ev and Ryan Olcott (12 Rods). Her songs “Redeye” and “You Can’t Even Tell” are gems of Minnesota music that have benefited from local and national radio play and still feel fresh today.

Then in 2005, Bec Smith found a new first love: Her husband. Sadly, this too fell flat. An unexpected betrayal helped craft material for a new album that consoles and inspires others with similarly devastating experiences. “I feel I have an incredible opportunity to share my story,” Smith notes, “My marriage ended, but my life didn’t.”


The Blessing behind the curse


You might assume her next musical project to be bitter & angst-ridden, although Bec Smith’s new album, Blessing, is anything but. The title alone is evidence enough. Recorded with organic instrumentation accompanied by drum loops and synthetic layers, the tracks showcase Smith’s ability to craft melodic hooks and aptly display her evocative vocal performances, which could tell the story even without words. Even so, the honest and poignantly effective lyrics read like an autobiography of the last five years of Smith’s life. Blessing’s tracks are contemplative and reflective without being self-indulgent. They are the songs of someone who sought the meaning behind her life’s recent changes—one who has discovered “the blessing beyond the battlefield.”

Working again with Producer and Engineer Ev, as well as Dave West (Catlick Records), Smith solicited the talents of Jason Orris, Kevin Anderson, Craig Holets (Willie Wisely, Jesse Lang), Arron (Al) Bergstrom (These Modern Socks) and Dave King (Halloween, Alaska), among others. Tracking live piano at Fuzzy Slippers in St. Paul and again at the Terrarium was an imperative element in recording Blessing. Smith felt songs like “I Was Right,” and “Somewhere Else” required the natural sound of a real piano. “I’ll always write on guitar,” explains Smith, “but the piano is my soul.”

Bec Smith now returns with a new live band including A. Brooks Nagel, Arron (Al) Bergstrom & Eddie Olson. The stage has now been set for us all to be blessed.

Blessing releases in October, 2007.




 
 
®2007 Bec Smith. All Rights Reserved.