Jameson Smith

Monday, 13 April 2009 13:29

Tidbits - Local Musicians

Jameson Smith

Jamison Smith is an upstate singer/songwriter who has been playing on the Spartanburg scene for nearly 15 years. Over this tenure he has picked up a vast array of covers ranging from Motown to Country to Rock and entertained a wide host of audiences from local bars & country clubs to churches, schools, and a multitude of private functions. His style, background, & song selection makes him suitable for almost any audience.

“I began playing this old acoustic guitar my dad had when I broke my foot playing football,” he reports with a grin. He then started taking lessons, mainly bluegrass & “boogie woogie,” from the Colonel Gene Wyatt, but after getting a foundation and an electric guitar felt he wanted to play more of what he was listening to at the time.

So from there he locked himself in his room and started picking out Guns & Roses and then Nirvana and Pearl Jam tunes, but found his heart to be in the old acoustic. He would drag it everywhere… to school, to work, on dates, and even to church. “I used to spend my lunch money and then make it back learning & playing covers in the hall at school… I must of learned a hundred or so love songs by request for the girls in that hallway and in chorus class.” It wasn’t long after that he began to write his own music, though.

“I began writing songs when I was 14 or 15, I think. I started writing these cheesy love songs when I really didn’t know a thing about love. I was a recluse at the time. I would go to school, come home and play guitar until I went to bed from exhaustion… I know my brother still can’t listen to Lenny Kravitz “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” because he had to listen to me play it so many times over and over again.”

As he got older, and after a brief stint with a few local bands, such as Mindshaker, he found the music he listened to as a child to come back around and wind up being his biggest influence and inspiration.

“My mom used to listen to Motown and gospel and country. I grew up on Kenny Rogers and Alabama and the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and Lionel Richie, and Jim Croce and James Taylor and church hymns. I went through a phase where I’d never even admit liking some those guys, but now… I could listen all day to that stuff.”

He also found himself going back and picking up other classic songwriters and performers, like Van Morrison, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Bob Dylan. He found his heart belonged to music, all styles and all kinds.

“The greatest job I ever had, or at least that was most influential on my playing, was working in a CD store. I got to hear everything, old and new. I got into everything from Miles Davis to Bob Marley to Pavement and Radiohead to Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash to Outkast and the whole Neo Soul movement… I loved Maxwell. I loved it all.”

All these influences work together to make Jamison somewhat of a schizophrenic songwriter. He jumps moods and styles to an almost stupid amount. “I have been compared to everyone from Van Morrison and James Taylor to Soundgarden and Pearl Jam in the past. It’s crazy.”

He has found many outlets, both in bands and in solo performances for his songwriting, but he says, “I really feel I found my own voice playing with the band BigFolk. It was there I started incorporating more of a mixture of soul and folk and wrote some of my favorite songs…” He cites from that time period his originals “Baby Blue,” “Crayon Skies,” “Dear Louis,” and “What if I…”(many of which can still be heard on his jamisonsmithmusic myspace) to be some of his favorites.

“Baby Blue” was the first song I wrote for my wife. She was really inspiring, and still is,” he adds. “But that song was a new style for me… it really came to identify me at the time.”

During this period he got a lot of comparisons to Ben Harper and Maroon 5, but he feels it was really his Motown roots that were coming out. “I was listening to A LOT of Motown at the time. I really felt a connection from when I was a kid listening to what my mom and dad just used to listen to on the radio all the time. It’s strange how much that stuff came back to me, but I like to think it really influences me even now.”

After Bigfolk, Smith and BigFolk band mate, Zale Hassler started playing around town under the band name Milgram’s 27, named after the 70’s psychology experiment on authority by Stanley Milgram. Soon after, drummer Rob Lutz joined them and the trio went on writing and playing regularly, until Zale moved out of town and on to other projects.

It was then Rob and Jamison pulled in musical acquaintances, bassist Todd Camp and guitarist Steve Cantrell and continued on under the band name. Steve went on to other projects after a while and left the band a trio, in its current form and after a stint of performances as a mainly covers band, and shortening the name to M27 (to lose “what’d you say” factor) the three are now creatively on a new path.

“I all but ditched the acoustic for M27, now. As a trio, it is hard to sound full and complete without some amplification.” This of course moved the band in a new direction. Now the stuff Jamison and crew write, takes on a harder edge, with more pop undertones, but the range of styles is still some what broad, ranging from soulful to rock to bluesy and mean. The band is currently getting ready record their first album and hopes have it completed by summer 2009.

Just because Jamison gave up the acoustic for the M27 project, doesn’t mean he has put it in the closet. Aside from playing with M27, Jamison also hosts the weekly Sunday’s Songwriter Series at Sonny’s Brick Oven Pizza, which has become somewhat of a staple in the local music and entertainment scene over the past year.

“I have been doing the Sundays Songwriter for about 2 years, now. It started slow and picked up and now we’ve got what I like to think of as a kind of musical community. We have a lot of regulars and open mic’ers come out every week and really make the nights worth while. It’s got to be one of the best crowds in Spartanburg, especially for songwriters. I love doing it.”

The night is a laid back, intimate showcase with mostly acoustic performances and it serves as both an open mic platform for veteran songwriters to swing by and try out new songs and as an outlet for newcomers to take the stage for the first time. “It never ceases to amaze me how much talent there is in Spartanburg, and how few venues there are in the area to support it. The night just wouldn’t work without so many great performers coming to hang out and play the open mic and listen, really listen, to others.” But Jamison is quick to point out, “although I love the open mic, I really try to keep it about the Featured Artist.”

Each week, there is a different featured songwriter from the area who plays about an hour or an hour and half of original material. The room lights go down and the stage lights go up and the atmosphere is really different from what you might feel in a typical bar or restaurant setting.

“I really want the featured artists, as well as all the songwriters who come out, to feel special… like all their hard work and the soul spilling they do writing is being heard and appreciated. I want everyone to feel that way, but especially the featured artist for the night.”

If you aren’t familiar with songwriters from the area, then Sunday Songwriters is the place for you. There has been a myriad of talented songwriters come through as the featured artists. Spartanburg artists from Marc Higgins, David Ezell, Matthew Knight Williams, Angela Easterling and Brandy Lindsey and the Punch to newer artist such as John Edgerton, Kerry Fey, Jeremy Willis, and Matt “George” Boston have graced the stage. There have been quite a few acts from Ashville and Columbia visited as well, such as, Laura Blackley, Hannah Miller, Brain McGee, and Dave Desmelik. Featured artist coming over the next few weeks include, John Scoggins, Donovan Brook, Chris and Tad from the Watts, Sydney McMath, Tony Slaughter, and Chelsea Lynn La Bate who is passing through the Carolina’s from New York.

“If you don’t know these artists, YOU SHOULD GET ONLINE AND LOOK THEM UP, especially if you are from the area,” says Jamison. “You will be amazed at the talent lurking around here waiting for a chance to get out. Just take some time or come by one Sunday… I am amazed every week and I know what to expect.”