Laura Smith Tribute

Laura Smith moved many people in her life and it was a sad day in early March 2020 when she passed away, leaving us all a legacy of beautiful songs and stories to enjoy for years to come.

This musical journey will feature selections from five of her albums and a few stories to round out her contributions to the global music library.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

On acoustic Avenue, we recognize with respect and gratitude that in this usual, the land on which we live, work, and play our music, is the unceded traditional territory of this equipment and people. Laura Smith moved many people in her life, and it was a sad day in early March 2020 when she passed away, leaving us all a legacy of beautiful songs and stories to enjoy for years to come. Today, this musical journey will feature selections from five of her albums and a few stories to round out her contributions to the global music library. Laura Smith first came into my life through the Salmon Arm Folk Music Society when artistic director Linda Tanaka presented her at the Selmar Theater. Laura was joined by George and Toniak on electric guitar, and they delivered a most memorable performance that moved me forever. It was a moment that I would cherish and became instrumental in bringing Laura and I to collaborate later in our careers. More on that in a little while. During that evening, she performed songs from her first three albums that displayed a Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen-like skill at crafting a lyric, and her voice was nothing short of strong and melodious and brave and surfacing, calm, and inquisitive. In Laura's own words from her debut album, so you want to know about me and my songs? I make up songs for the simple reason that I can't express myself fully in any other way. It's a challenge and a thrill to finish a tune that makes me feel like I've just done myself a favor. Narcissistic Samaritanism. I'd say, when I see myself stumbling on the road, hey, I stop and help. We start today's show with three songs from her debut album, Laura Smith. You can imagine just the depth of the lyrics and listen to that voice riding on the waves with bells, Faceless Wonder, and Geordie.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Here is Laura Smith It was one of those nights, you know just kinda snuck up on me. I might have done myself somehow. I spun my wheels for another twenty-four hours just trying to get back home without sounding the alarm. But I heard bells ringing and I felt a fire in my bells. They're gonna ring a survival I had one of those mornings when the fog just rolled in relentless and I had no idea where I was Nothing anyone could tell me Nothing anyone tried to show me was gonna help me out of this one I knew it because I could hear those bells ringing I felt a fire in my baby those bells They're gonna ring as a bell I don't wanna tell ya where I'm going Cause you don't want me to go I don't wanna tell you what I'm thinking Oh you don't really wanna know Oh well I don't think my tracks are seemless I've given those hounds a pretty good place to stand I start ringing those bells baby That'll ring us a high I got one of those feelings It comes hot on the heels of a feeling that I've already had But the lines have been drawn you know and all those words have been spoken But that truth doesn't sound nearly as bad as those bells ringin' for that fire in mind A baby They're gonna ring us a five I don't wanna tell you where I'm going Truth be I do not know I don't wanna tell ya what I'm thinking It's not like these thoughts don't show it won't be hard to find me I'll be the only one dragging my horse behind a cat Ringin' those bells baby Ringin' this about ringin' those bells baby Ringin' this a belly No Dlazer Man It's not for lack of desire that will ye corrupt so fine a design There's nothing in this table that tells me it knows where I sit There's nothing in your body that tells me you could find me in the dark at the drop of a hat I pull up to the sand full stop bright eyes approach me from behind Oh it's not for lack of desire that they didn't do any damage this time you are faceless you are a wonder I am amused at your disguise passing yourself up as an innocent but your your speech ranks have the wise faceless wonder I wonder what it is you laugh it's not for lack of desire but I cannot help you get it back in the sunshine that tells me I've been shone on I've been blessed There's nothing in this nakedness that says hey I just been undressed I was in the sample step most dead in the happiness attack stand still it's not for lack of desire but we cannot drink from these cups we're filled Are you a faceless you are a wonder I am amused with your disguise coming in here with the swagger of an innocent patrol speech reeks out the wise faithless wonder I wonder what it is you like it's not for lack of desire that I cannot help you no no it's not for lack of desire but I cannot help you get it backy journey it's a great old day ordered up this weather anyway I just dropped by to see if you heard the news or maybe you had a visit from shiny shoes I only ever used to hear those gas on the radio And it was laughable what they had to say about which way the industry's gonna go I'd hear 'em talking about country talking about love but I'd yet to see the hand wearing the bell give it to me and then take it away not one of those guys set foot in this bay Jordy I worry about the future of this town You can drop a hook in the water you won't get a fish fall in the water you might not even go down you'll just float ashore on something that God knows who threw overboard I can't find justice anymore Jordi there's a rumor going round some of those shiny shoes they're coming to town me I offered to take 'em for a ride you'll hear me laugh all the way to the harbor while they throw up over the side Jordi I take my fun wherever I can find you gotta learn to take your fun wherever you can find yours if they have their way we'll have our fun sports fishing someday paying outrageous prices for hook lines and sinkers a dingy and a set oars buying our fishing store I hear 'em talking about country talking about love but I've yet to see the hand where in the world claims it can give to me and then take away They are so goddamn arrogant to think they've gotta save Jordi I worry I worry about the future of this crowd It's not just you're not just me the whole damn coast that I'm going down you can living on the seal but get real you gotta be careful in this game of as long as you got factories up there fennin' for fortune the little fish fighting the flames I can hear 'em when I'm walking down the street to see shame shame shame it's a grey old day ordered up this weather anyway from Laura continues to Laura from her well musical offering with the second album between the earth and my soul recording listened unbounded critical claim enormous airplay international television appearances and a hungry demand for more live performances from stages in Denmark to Newport Rhode Island to Vancouver to the Yukon shared the secrets of her soul laying out for charmed audiences her private and yet ultimately universal experiences.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Many people became devoted fans when they first came to know Laura Smith for her nineteen ninety five single Shade of Your Love one of the year's biggest hits on adult and contemporary radio stations in Canada and still more followers including former CBC morning host Peter Zosky were introduced to her music when they heard Laura's adaptation of the Scottish folk song My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean which she entitled My Bonnie Between the Earth and my soul brought her national recognition and earned the two East Coast music award female lord album of the year and two general nominations for that traditional album with the shade of your love and no call for mercy from between the earth and my soul can cast shadow just like strangers and paychecks and birds on the wing and willow cheese since I started cool at my ease in the dark days of that summer I knew it was the shade of your love cool be shade I knew it was the shade of your love I won't be wearing shoes today because my heels are on fire I feel like something is transpiring between the earth of my soul of my dream the wicked me up out of my slumber I wake up when I see the earth turning in the dusty room I dusty dusty road in my dreams I'm watching turning in the dusty room I won't endorse this love I won't be signing any papers I won't enforce this love I won't be calling the police no police I just want to reinforce this love the banks against Tawada come rush when it's done a com rush we shape the shape of your love me on pale pale my face it comes in handy when there's nothing good to eat and I've got plenty in my closet to keep me busy some days my biggest irritation is doors that don't open easy I get used to two steps forward three steps back sideways glances when it's not my hands on the wheel but I walk for nothing really I'm feeling for nothing I've had my list in making humble and I say what I feel don't let illusions of grandeur set me back in I take them in the stride like a good race or should but sometimes visions of the circle and all of those flowers kept me going forward when nothing else could I love to write downhill forever but something's always turning me around say no no no you're too sensitive on the surface but y'all too naive for the underground Well all I know is I love the powers that keep my face swimming in one direction I love the shoes I bought to wear on the street I've got enough schooling to know what side of the road I'm on and I don't let selfish people try to cheat me out of loving used to two steps forward three steps back sideways glances when it's not my hands on the wheel but I want for nothing really I'm eating for nothing I've had

SPEAKER_03 22:03

And I do try to say what I feel. I dove down to the bottom of my heart. I heart wired if you feel it just to see your face. I came up for there was nobody there. I'm dying back down to the whole thing apart. I'm going all out the memory. Take the tears out of the draft. Polish up the surface, keep the shadow out for that. Come up for air if there's nobody there. I'm making on a miracle. My heart will survive Hallelujah. I make no call for mercy. I will get over this fence. I make no call for mercy. I make my heart makes sense. I went down to the grocery store to find love in a bag of the floor. I spent a few hours. I went blue in the face. I spent girl. You never find a face, please. Squeeze local for mercy. When I came up with a hammer, oh, there was nobody there. When I'm gonna die, I'm gonna take the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Welcome back to the second half of today's program, a tribute to Laura Smith on Acoustic Avenue with your host Ted Crowd. The previous set featured Shade of Your Love Two Steps and No Call for Mercy. Canadian-based music critic, consultant, record collector, and reviewer Rock Rizien wrote, Laura Smith is the practical, no nonsense, but warm-hearted confidant who always has words of wisdom when things aren't going well. Of course, sometimes those homes fun homilies come unsolicited. Rock was writing about Laura's third album. It's a personal thing. Laura returned to the co-producing role with David Hilliard, who once again stormed the palace and saved the day for this recording of songs with lyrics and music. Laura composed. Laura Smith will encourage listeners to take their shoes off, put on a pot of tea, and sit down for a good old-fashioned heart-to-heart. It's a personal thing.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

And the world is coming in. Yeah, Maggie, it's a whale. And the woo is coming in. I can walk a shoreline. I can fix a clothes line. I can run a fine line. Between love and heat. Love and hate. I know there's big stories coming from the front lines. Big money on the sidelines. Big letters for the byline. I can't relate. I can't relate. I'm watching a jet stream, Peter Pink Lab. Sunsets behind the tree lab. They gotta disconnect the phone line and temp my feet. I'm gonna temp my feet. Folks are getting home off the back line. Companies throwing along that using people's beat. Love meat. I'm gonna head out on the meet now. I'll drive steady, keep an eye on the white. I'll buy a ticket on an airline. I book a passage in free. Jam and free. I don't like thinking about the food line. There's no point holding a hard line. I can hold my own in a straight line. If it means filling up my plate, fill up my plate. I've got a dream beyond the neat line. I smell smoke along the song lines. I've got pleasure in my lifeline. Don't make me away, don't make me away. A fancy dress or an A-line. I know enough about a plum line. I can fix my own gate. I better fix that gate. Yeah, my gate it's wide open. And my dream to get now. Yeah, my game sway and my dream. My legs, they are a part of my body. My eyes, they are a part of my soul.

unknown 31:28

Look deep.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

Look deep. There's a surprise there. There's a surprise there. Such a surprise. I'm a beauty. My feet, they are the tools of my traveling. My hands, they are the tools of my treat. Touch deep, touch deep. There's a surprise there. There's a surprise there. Such a surprise I'm a beauty. My face, it's a map of my time here. My heart, it's a map of my dreams. Dream deep, dream deep. There's a surprise there. There's a surprise there. Such a surprise such a surprise. I've been living in this climate all of my days. Lately I've been free. It's time to get away. I'm gonna find myself a place in the sunny south. Tie down my clothes, green, yellow, blue, and vermilion. I'll grow fragrant flowers, I wear them in my head as far as a home goes. I just might build one. I need a little more sun on more of my body, more of the time. A little more sun for more people, more of the time. Yeah, I'd love you and me going out to the scene. I've just shown you. How would you like to fly? Yeah, fly. Fly Oh, I'm crazy about the water. Can't get enough of that liquid state. Turn it off the old TV. I got something to show you. Oh, picture a little photo now. The sun is dancing in your head. Tell me, wouldn't you love the fly? Fly. Flying by the water I can't get enough of that. Liquid state. I'm gonna move to a little place on the beach. I'm calling my own up. I make myself a house out of a beach. Found stones, and I'll make it kinda like I have the sun rising in the window in the morning when I rise. And I'll have the sun kinda sitting in the window as I go to sleep. Sounds to me like it's gonna be a one house.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

That was Laura Smith from her album It's a Personal Thing. After enjoying a successful career with several years of recorded projects that included some of the songs we played today, Laura began to struggle following a series of accidents that left her in chronic pain, removed from the stage she so loved that she was unable to write, record, or perform. Laura was living a complicated life that was not particularly easy. She found herself realizing that that fact furthered her connection to the people who liked her music. With the encouragement of live Ireland journalist Bill Martin, penguin eggs publicist Roddy Campbell, and middle stream recording studio producer Paul Mills, Laura immersed herself in a four-year project reviewing many songs provided by these friends that resulted in completing her first recording in sixteen years. Everything is Moving was released on Borealis Records in 2013, a tribute in its own way to going through rough times and coming out stronger and happier than before. From Everything Is Moving.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

So true, saying, Friend, I fear my Williams slay and a lonely water.

SPEAKER_03 40:04

What were the clothes your William wore? A soldier did reply. A broad bright sword hung by his side o'er his dark suit of blue.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

Those were the clothes my William wore had lonely water.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

If those were the clothes your William wore, I saw his dying day when the bayonet pierced his tender breast as on the ground he lay. Oh will he dear still and she could say no more. She threw herself down on her knees as I those tidings bore.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

Had I the wings of a little bird, its straightway I would fly.

SPEAKER_03 41:56

I would fly to lonely waterloo where my true love does lie. I'd light on my love's bosom my sorrow to remove. I'd kiss my William's clear cold lips as a token of true love A single meet and I remain to none I will prove true since my William lies with cyclys. Everything is moving. So why am I standing still looking for a star? Let there be a star. I all those blues in the sky Well the blues and I we meet on the port side We see I to I to I the blue the blues You were listening to Laura Smith.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

I mentioned earlier in the show my path and Laura's joined, remarkably at that time in her career when she had overcome adversity, recorded her fourth album, and was planning to tour. After chatting with a friend in the shoe swap who was curious about what Laura was up to these days, I offered to phone and ask her how she was doing. Laura and I had never spoken nor met before, and we both found it uplifting to talk about the music industry, collaborating and creating opportunities for her to play music. After an hour-long conversation and mutual agreement on the common ground we had found, we began developing a 2018 tour for selected dates in Alberta, MBC. While she was in Salmon Arm as part of the tour, we had time to finally meet, chat, and visit while enjoying two remarkable shows she performed with her piano player, Kim Dunn. Following that tour, Laura and I joyfully continued our collaboration and booked summer festival dates in 2020, to be followed by a November European tour. Laura was back, where she had so often spoken and wrote to me about I was born to be on stage. That's where I'm most at home. I'm at my best on stage. There's so much more to share about Laura's story and that time in her life. And I can honestly say, as I was getting to know her, she was everything everyone said and wrote about her and more. Thank you to Laura for the songs she wrote, and I hope you enjoyed listening to the selections we played for you today as much as I know Laura enjoyed creating and recording them to share with you. In 2019, Laura initiated a recording project that would be a best of album to showcase songs from her earlier work. Laura received her diagnosis of inoperable cancer that winter, and the project took on an urgency and a wider scope. Undeterred by her illness, Laura booked studio time in her hometown of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, to record two new songs. She garnered the strength to record the new material just a few weeks before her death. Paul Mills, producer of the album Everything Is Moving, said she was just an amazing singer, songwriter, and performer. It's always puzzled me why she's not an international star. She was a lovely person, a great spirit. Laura passed on March 7, 2020, and left us with an amazing body of work that will be treasured for years. In a moving tribute, her record label Borealis Records wrote, Canadian singer-songwriter Laura Smith is deeply missed by all who knew and worked with her, along with thousands that loved her music. To close the show, we're going to play two songs that I think Laura would lovingly share in celebration of her life and her musical contribution to this planet. The first is the title track from the album release Following Her Passing, As Long As I'm Dreaming, and the final selection will be A Safe Home, Sweet Light. A song Laura wrote when she lost a brother and an old friend within days of each other. Thank you for listening to Acoustic Avenue. This is Ted Crouch signing off, and from my heart to yours, stay safe and love the ones you're with. Peace. Cook's jam.

SPEAKER_02 50:11

As long as I'm dreaming I might as well dream that I'm crazy about you and you share my feelings. I threw you my kiss while the ocean waved goodbye as long as I'm dreaming, I might as well dream that even my craziest dreams can come true, and your dreaming of me dream about you.

SPEAKER_03 53:51

Safe and sound are you carry no longer casting shadows, no longer counting days you are love and you are loved always Safe Home, sweetheart no longer beating your life is but a whisper to my sorrow but time does not confine you now by spirits I must raise you are love and you are loved only. No longer shining Though your joy is now a beacon for the weary nevermore to shed a tear nevermore to feel alone and you are loved your home and you are loved your home.