Spa Pavilion, Strathpeffer, 14 May 2011

LET me be the first to admit that my experience is virtually non-existent when it comes to the style of guitar playing that Richard Smith brought to his return visit to the Spa Pavilion in Strathpeffer last Saturday evening, accompanied by his wife, the American cellist Julie Adams. The audience was not huge, possibly approaching a hundred, and the predominant hair colour was grey.

In that environment, and considering that the voices of the guitar and the cello are such a natural pairing, I was taken by surprise when their performance started with a selection of Beatles songs, including ‘Taking The Easy Way Out’, ‘Something in The Way She Moves’, and ‘Lady Madonna’. But the style was not Beatles; rather it had strains of country and western which left the cello taking a very back seat.

Richard Smith

As the duo segued into Cole Porter’s ‘You Do Something To Me’, my initial thought was that the emotion was one way, after which there was more than a little irony in their pastiche of ‘Swingin’ on a Star’ which morphed into “Would You Like to Play a Guitar……or Would You rather get a job”.

Throughout, Smith’s guitar playing was the dominant feature and the show was an exposition of his expertise of finger-picking and thumb-picking as he played tunes by the likes of Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Irving Berlin, Charles Gounod and John Philip Sousa. Julie Adams was given a solo spot to play a pleasant but unchallenging Irish air called ‘Gentle Maiden’.

After the interval, Smith showed that his sense of irony had not deserted him as his first words were, “Thanks for sticking around for part two.” Perhaps by this time my ear was getting attuned to the style of music as I was beginning to appreciate Smith’s skill and his sense of comedy was getting through. There were pieces by Brahms and Bach arranged for bluegrass guitar, standards like ‘Spanish Eyes’ and ‘Cheek to Cheek’, an accomplished ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ (fans of that tune should go onto YouTube and look for “Sweet Georgia Brown med traktorkomp” – it’s brilliant!), before ending up with a clever arrangement of ‘Yankee Doodle’ and ‘Dixie’ played simultaneously with each tune utilising three guitar strings, and the Smith-Adams playout song ‘Happy Trails’.

All credit to Richard Smith and Julie Adams for making a life on the road taking live music to people in small communities. A look at their tour schedule shows that the Spa Pavilion is one of the larger venues they are going to, so things can’t be easy. This husband and wife team, and others like them, do an essential job making sure that music reaches the grass roots and does not become centralised around big names in large halls.

In his speech of thanks, promoter Duncan Kennedy announced sadly that, after ten years, this was the last guitar event he was going to be putting on in the Spa Pavilion. Quite simply, the sums do not add up and in those circumstances, even the most dedicated person eventually has to say that enough is enough. Thanks are due to Duncan for all he has done, and I speak from experience when I say how much he should be appreciated for all the time, passion and resources he has given to the community.

© James Munro, 2011

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