Without too much hard data to support this claim, songwriters who’ve divided their time between several metropolises and musical hubs tend to have some of the most fascinating insights. Just look at Bruce Smith, who was reared near Detroit and based in Atlanta during his late teens and early twenties. The early portion of Smith’s post-college career was spent in D.C.’s vast political sector but it wasn’t until Bruce settled down here in Austin that his musical momentum began to pick up. The first iteration of the Bruce Smith Band was recruited at an open-mic all the way back in 2004, and after a decade and a half of gigging, their roots-y chemistry couldn’t be stronger. In that time Bruce Smith’s become a heavy hitter in the Live Music Capital of the World, and with the widespread acclaim of 2018’s ‘Til the Wheels Fall Off, the band’s profile is now at an all-time high.
That theme of getting the most out of every journey, of turning the “gas tank in bone dry”, is core to his latest LP, 1000 Horses, which dropped this morning. Co-produced with his Grammy-winning keyboardist Randy Caballero, 1000 Horses cross-breeds Smith’s diverse herd of influences into a coherent ten-track class of Americana colts. The record release show is 6pm tomorrow night at Saxon Pub and you can grab 1000 Horses by the mane with one of the album’s most rambunctious country gallops, “Campbellton”!
–Jack Anderson
