R.C. SMITH/ Complete Recordings (Re-Post)
C'est par
hasard que Chris et Paul croisent le chemin de R.C. Smith alors qu'il discutait
avec son ami Wade Walton dans le petit salon de coiffure que ce barbier/
bluesman tenait dans le quartier noir de Clarksdale. Après que Wade eut
impressionné ses visiteurs exotiques de quelques morceaux à la guitare, à
l'harmonica et surtout en battant le rythme avec une lame et la sangle de
rasoir de sa boutique (un "truc" qu'il rééditera devant chacun de ses
visiteurs de plus en plus nombreux au fur et à mesure des années), R.C. a à son
tour interprété quelques morceaux avec la guitare de Wade (il avait mis la
sienne au clou pour payer les cadeaux de Noel à sa femme et à ses huit enfants)
D'emblée,
Oliver et Strachwitz décident d'enregistrer les deux compères. Smith ne grave
que quelques titres et c'est l'année suivante en juillet 1961 qu'il peut
s'exprimer sur un album entier qui sortira pour Bluesville, un des meilleurs LP
de ce label, avec notamment quelques très grands moments personnels comme le
désespérant Council Spur blues.
Malheureusement le label Bluesville n'a jamais brillé par sa distribution et
l'album sorti presque en catimini à une époque où le blues revival n'était que
balbutiant ne se vend qu'à quelques dizaines d'exemplaires!
A part
quelques dollars bienvenus, le disque ne rapporte rien du tout à R.C. Smith qui
retourne à sa métairie, conduisant un tracteur pour un salaire misérable. Il
confiera être très fier qu'un seul de ses enfants soit décédé! Vers 1969, il
abandonne le blues pour la religion, quitte ensuite le Mississippi dans les années
1970 pour une meilleure vie à Chicago.
Son superbe
disque – malheureusement devenu très rare et jamais réédité ni en LP ni en CD –
intrigue cependant le cercle des amateurs de Delta blues un peu partout dans le
monde, en particulier le fondateur de Living Blues Jim O'Neal qui, grâce à Wade
Walton, réussit à le retrouver en 1997 et à le faire monter sur scène (sans
doute sa seule apparition en concert) durant le Sunflower blues festival. Mais
Smith doit regagner Chicago et élude donc l'idée d'enregistrer l'album que veut
O'Neal.
R.C. Smith
décède en novembre 2010 à Chicago.
On ne peut
que regretter que ce talent qu'on devine d'importance au vu de ses quelques
disques n'ait pu davantage figurer dans les festivals de blues et fréquenter
davantage les studios. But anyway this is the real story of the blues!
Gérard
HERZHAFT
Robert
Curtis Smith, born in Cruger, Ms near Clarksdale in 1930, is certainly one of
the best discovery made by Chris Strachwitz and Paul Oliver during their July
1960 blues trip in the Deep South. Here was a blues singer in his early 30's
playing the guitar in the true Delta style who also wrote personal lyrics about
his everyday life! Even for the 1960's he was a major find and he should
certainly have enjoyed concerts, records and international recognition.
Chris
and Paul crossed the path of R.C. Smith while he was chatting with his old
friend Wade Walton in Wade's barbershop situated in Clarksdale's
"colored" quarter. Wade was mentioned as an old-styled bluesman by
several people, leading Oliver and Strachwitz to his shop. After Wade had
impressed his exotic visitors in singing and playing the guitar and harmonica
and moreover playing his razor strap (a gimmick he would do again umpteenth
times for visiting bluesfans from all around the world during the next decades,
including yours truly!), R.C. also mentioned he was able to play and sing the
blues even he had no guitar of his own at that time (he had to put his guitar
at the pawnshop the previous year to be able to buy Christmas gifts to his
children and he hadn't been able to buy it back).
Paul
and Chris decided at once to record the two hitherto unknown bluesmen. R.C.
Smith recorded only four titles and he had to wait the following year to make a
whole album which would be issued on the Bluesville label, certainly one of the
best (and much sought after) of these series with some striking numbers like
the hopeless Council Spur blues.
Unfortunately the Bluesville label was very poorly distributed and Smith's LP
sold only a handful of dozens (I was once told less than a hundred!)
Smith
grabbed only a handful of dollars from this record and nothing else happened:
no gigs, no more records, nobody coming to see him! R.C. was still living
precariously and when asked decades after he said his main pride was to have
raised his large family with only one lost child! Around 1969, he gave up
entirely the blues for the church and at the end of the 1970's he left
Mississippi for Chicago, becoming a fulltime preacher.
His great
LP - unfortunately very hard to find after the mid-60's and never reissued on
CD - had nevertheless gained the worldwide blues buffs' attention and it had
the indefatigable energy of Jim O'Neal (founder of Living Blues and then
relocated in Clarksdale) to at last (and thanks to Wade's tip) find Reverend
R.C. Smith in Chicago during 1997. Thanks to O'Neal, R.C. made his first and only
stage appearance at the Sunflower blues festival. Jim hoped to record R.C. but
it never materialized.
The
following year Matthew Bock crossed R.C.'s path by chance and made him record
five new titles, only Gospel numbers, delivered with the same feeling and
energy R.C. had 40 years before!
R.C.
Smith died in Chicago in November 2010.
We
can only have regrets this excellent bluesman had not been more on the focus.
He probably was able to make strong appearances in big festivals like Newport,
the AFBF and others also record more great LPs and become an important name of
the blues revival.
But
sadly it's anyway and so usually the story of the blues!
Gérard
HERZHAFT
R.C. SMITH
The Complete Recordings
R.C.
Smith, vcl/g. Clarksdale, Ms. 24 July 1960
01. Stella Ruth
02. Going back to Texas
03. Lonely widower
04. Lost love blues
R.C.
Smith, vcl/g; Sam Moore, dms. Clarksdale, Ms. 28 July 1961
05. Please don't drive me away
R.C.
Smith, vcl/g. Clarksdale, Ms. 28 July 1961
06. Rock me mama
07. I believe we love each other
08. Put your arms around me
09. Catfish blues
10. I hate to leave you
11. Council Spur blues
12. I feel so good
13. I'm going away
14. Ain't that lovin' you baby
15. Get a real woman
16. See my chauffeur
17. Sunflower River blues
18. Katy Mae blues
19. Goody goody
20. Can you remember me?
R.C.
Smith, vcl/g. Chicago, Ill. 1998
21. The Lord will make a way somehow
22. Lye Water conversion
23. Thank you
24. Calvary
25. Milky white way
