Popular Hamilton blues veteran Alfie Smith releases a new album
Every Rome Needs A Nero, arguably his best work yet, confirms Smith is a triple threat: a guitar virtuoso, an eloquent blues-based songwriter, and a powerful singer.
Both music and Hamilton reside deep in the DNA of Alfie Smith. The acclaimed veteran blues singer, songwriter and guitar master was born and bred in the east end, and he’s fiercely proud of those roots.
In a recent interview with HAMILTON CITY Magazine, Smith recalls that “five generations grew up in our big family house at Barton and Gage that is now a Mac’s Milk. My grandfather and uncle were both musicians, and my grandfather would have a bluegrass jam in the basement every weekend. We’d go to bluegrass fests and that’s where I really got an appreciation for music.
In his teenage years, Smith played with his grandfather and his band.
“I always loved bluegrass and that led me to a love of blues. I always felt bluegrass was blues on the wrong speed on the record! They share a lot of the same stories.”
Further south on Gage from the Smith residence is Gage Park, another crucible for Smith’s love of music.
“When I was three or four years old, my parents took me to the first Festival of Friends there,” he reminisces. “That was my first real experience of seeing live music, and because of that I wanted to be a musician. I have since been lucky enough to play Festival of Friends more often than any musician except (Hamilton folk/blues legend) Jackie Washington.”
Smith was back at Gage Park this year to perform at both Festival of Friends and It’s Your Festival. “I also played Supercrawl this year, so I call that the triple crown of Hamilton music festivals. To me, that shows you are a working class musician in this town.”
With the line “in Gage Park, we played in the fields,” the noted festival setting is one of the many places referenced in a new Smith song “East End Girl.”
“I like songs that mention a place as they give you an image,” he explains. “I reference so many Hamilton landmarks in ‘East End Girl’ I may approach City of Hamilton to produce a video for that song.”
Watch Alfie Smith perform "East End Girl"
That autobiographical tune is a highlight of Smith’s new album Every Rome Needs A Nero. This is his eighth album, but it is over a decade since his previous release Come On In My Kitchen, a duo record with his wife Nicole Christian, another highly-regarded roots musician.
Since then, the hard-working troubadour has remained a crowd-pleasing fixture on the Ontario blues/folk/roots festivals and club circuit. His return to recording with Every Rome Needs A Nero, arguably his best work yet, confirms Smith is a triple threat: a guitar virtuoso fluent on slide and vintage National and resonator instruments; an eloquent blues-based songwriter; and a powerful singer with a deep and rich voice to match his dominating physical presence.
Added to those musical assets on the record are the clean production and engineering of Brandon Bliss and the skilled accompaniment of some ace local players. That group comprises in-demand pianist/keyboardist Jesse O’Brien (Colin James, Lee Harvey Osmond), trumpeter Troy Dowding, drummer Dave Gould, bassist Justine (The Bass Machine) Fischer (Espanola, Logan Staats), Bliss on B3 organ, and Melissa Marchese and Jenni Pleau on backing vocals.
Known for his work as a member of hard rock heroes Monster Truck, Bliss deserves credit as the catalyst behind this new album. Long an admirer of Smith’s work, Bliss tells HCM that “our paths crossed professionally when Alfie came to play on a Monster Truck recording I was producing. One thing led to another and we ended up making this album together throughout COVID."
Using Monster Truck’s rehearsal space as a studio afforded Smith the rare luxury of recording without watching the clock. He notes that “my previous albums were all self-produced. Even if they came out on a small label, I had to pay for the recording. If you go into a top studio like (famed Hamilton studio) Grant Avenue, costs mean you have only two days of recording and one mixing the album.
“With this one, because there was no financial pressure, I was able to invite friends in to play on just one thing at a time, back when we were all locked up. I could go over there, record for a day, then take a couple weeks off, thinking about it.”
Bliss was so pleased with the results on Every Rome that he chose it to be the flagship release for his new independent label Gilded Tooth Records, one that will also release Monster Truck material.
“Once the record was done, it was obvious to me that whoever’s ears we could get this to would admire Alfie the same way Hamilton has for the last few decades.”
Smith’s formidable skills have long been recognized locally, as shown by his 12 nominations for the Hamilton Music Awards, in both the Best Male Vocalist and Best Guitarist categories. The Toronto Blues Society selected Smith as its representative at the renowned International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2010, where he performed with distinction.
It is a fair assumption that if Smith was based in a city like New Orleans or Memphis, he would have a far higher profile because his artistic talent is certainly on a par with any musician based in those cities.
“My wife is American and our two kids are dual citizens, so I could get a green card. To be honest, the gun violence in the states keeps us here. If I could choose anywhere in Canada to live, it would still be Hamilton.”
But one U.S. city he loves is New Orleans, and he tells us “we actually got married in New Orleans, on the last steamboat and by the riverboat captain. I played an open mic show there at Checkpoint Charlie’s, a laundromat that has music. I sang three songs and made 60 bucks from the tip jar!”
The rich musical heritage of The Big Easy has had a major impact on Smith’s work, as evidenced by the extensive use of trumpet on Every Rome Needs A Nero.
“I kind of like jazz before it separated from the blues. If you go to New Orleans, they are still mixed. I have always loved trumpet. On this recording, Troy sounded so good that at some stages where it was meant to be half trumpet solo and half guitar, I took my guitar out. My biggest thing is to serve the song. If the trumpet does that better than my awful guitar solo, go with it.”
Smith describes himself as a “solid guitar player but I’m not someone who does thousands of solos. I’m good at fingerpicking and slide.” He is, of course, being overly modest about his instrumental prowess, which has earned him endorsements from such major instrument makers as Godin Guitar, Goldtone Banjos, and Goodman Guitars.
He has also accumulated an impressive collection of vintage guitars, telling us that it includes “a Gibson L3 from 1927, a 1935 National and a 1935 electro Spanish Rickenbacker, the first production electric guitar. I bought the Gibson L3 from the daughter of (Ontario folk luminary) Mose Scarlett, who was something of a mentor to me.”
One of Smith’s guitar stories is a bittersweet one.
“In 2009, I was visiting New Jersey, and I went to New York City to see (pioneering guitarist) Les Paul play. I went backstage and talked to him, and he invited me to play with him when I was next back in NYC. I was so excited to come back but he died the next week. I do have a guitar signed by him and my kids will get that one.”
Upcoming shows:
Dec. 21 – Nickel Brook Brewing, Burlington
Jan. 22 – The Casbah, part of a Tom Waits tribute night
