Corey Smith
Keeping Up with the Joneses
(UNDERtone Records)
Making a name for your self in the country music business is tough, even considering the booming nature of the genre. Georgia boy Corey Smith has followed his own path towards the top, and his latest LP features some deep rumination on life and the difficulties in remaining true in spite of new found fame and fortune.
Keeping Up with the Joneses is an acoustic guitar-fueled jaunt that focuses on Smith’s lyrics and pleasing voice. Rather than an over-twanged southern style, Smith sounds more like Jack Johnson’s long-lost brother who happens to have been raised in Dixie.
His guitar style seems like a similar derivative, but he tends to keep the tempo down. Rather than unleashing a full throttle pick fest backed by electric guitar and rock drums, Smith keeps it simple and deliberate.
The entire album reaches an enviable balance between somber ballads like “Collide” and “Lonely Ride” and swaggering songs like “Dirtier by the Year." Smith has reached a sweet spot where he is able to divide his album between mainstream radio jams and his more thoughtful and lonesome pieces that deliver a view into the man’s soul.
Whether he’s delving into what it means to be a simple man or admitting that he’s “nasty enough to make a stripper blush," Smith manages to do some of his best work with Keeping Up with the Joneses and appears poised to keep climbing the ranks of country music royalty.
Smith plays Cat's Cradle on Saturday alongside Sons Of Bill. Show starts at 9 p.m. and costs $20.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
