Stan's Silver River Rambles #1
January 2022
Hi and a warm welcome to the first issue of the Silver River Rambles. A glimpse into the world of Stan Smith Musician (as opposed to Sam Smith who Google insists on flagging up if I do a search for my music stuff).
Upcoming Gigs
30/01/22 Disappearing Chin, Harrogate 6.30pm
10/02/22 Green Note, London 7.30pm
19/02/22 Ilkley Playhouse 8.00pm (with the Rob Dylan Band)
Hello
So I'd like to start by wishing you a belated Happy New Year and a hope that's it's a better one for all of us. Like everyone else, the pandemic has had a big impact on my day to day life including my music 
exploits. Some of you may have caught the Facebook Live "Nidd Night Specials" which started in the depths of the first lockdown in the UK in 2020 and ran up to summer 2021. It was basically a chance for Bron and I to have a bit of a chat, interspersed with a few songs. It helped to keep us relatively sane/amused in any case.
Venues started to reopen mid 2021 and I ventured out to the occasional open mic followed by a series of gigs (see below) and a series of recording sessions to produce the new album No Love No Life. But I get ahead of myself, most definitely for those of you who have little or no background to who I am and where I come from. I recently put together a 'press release' to send out with links to the new album. In it you can hopefully get a bit of a picture of who I am. I'll expand on my previous music life, especially Mulholland, in the next issue.
No Love No Life
At the end of 2021 I went into a recording studio in York (Young Thugs) with some new/old musician friends to create band versions of the songs I'd written over the last year. Young Thugs had relocated temporarily to a barge (the Artsbarge) whilst their studios were being renovated, the space provided a very special atmosphere for the sessions. The basic songs were recorded live with all of us playing together then additional instrumentation was overdubbed. I'd liked the previous Mulholland albums but felt they were missing something which I think we captured on the barge over those days with many thanks to the excellent musicians and Jonny Hooker from Young Thugs. You can judge for yourself by having a listen here.
With the songs done and dusted the next stage was to complete the artwork and produce a CD. All things are now online of course but there are still some of you out there who like a physical item to play. If you'd like a copy then you can order one or more via the website.
In November I was able to get some of the musicians who played on the recordings, supplemented by some other new/old friends, to perform the album songs live at a launch in Harrogate. We needed a name for the band and I came up with The Silver River Band c/f the No Love No Life title song lyrics. And hence the newsletter title :-)
I'm really pleased with the album and we'll hopefully have the opportunity to perform the songs as a band more in the future. In the meantime, many of them have now become part of my solo set.
Gigs - Gone Down
As well as the online Nidd Night Specials mentioned earlier, last year came up with a fair few gigs with actual people. In the same room. Now that I'm based just outside Harrogate in North Yorkshire, there's been a number in the town, principally in Hales Bar and Blues Bar. Some solo and some with friends helping me out. It was very pleasing to get a fortnightly residency at a local bar in town, The Disappearing Chin. They were early evening slots, 2x45 minute spots singing unplugged. Really enjoyable. The run finished at the end of 2021 but I'm back there at the end of January as part of a charity fund raising night.
Beyond Harrogate there's been a few gigs slightly further afield including a Sunday afternoon spot in Leeds at Northern Guitars, York's Victoria Vaults and a couple of jaunts to the east coast (Yorkshire's). The stickler that I am for lists, there's a list of gigs and set lists of songs sung on the website.
Finally there's been a few nice appearances on the radio. A bit of a mix of 'live in the studio' talking about stuff and singing (Harrogate Hospital Radio, The Fox's Den), a couple of plays of songs off the album on BBC Introducing and most recently a chat talking about the new album and playing some favourites by others on the Folk & Beyond radio show.
Rob Dylan Band
As you may already know, I am a big Bob Dylan fan. From the late 60s onwards I've been completely smitten so I was very pleased to be invited to sing lead vocals with the Rob Dylan Band. They cover Bob's songs of course (and The Band) but what is really good is that they/we don't try to mimic the original. Nothing wrong implicitly with doing a show in a 'Tribute' format but it's not something I have ever been interested in. I reckon a good original version of a good song is worth listening to/seeing and fortunately the band has amassed a good number of people who agree and we have been able to play theatre-sized venues rather than the pubs/small clubs I've done in the past. The next one is at the Playhouse in Ilkley (as in On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at)
So that's it for this time. Not a lot of gigs in the diary as it stands but a few more may materialise over the coming months. I hope you will be able to come to one or two. Keep an eye out for new ones on the website, Facebook and/or future newsletters. The main aim though for me is to get back into some travelling before the end of the year. As with previous escapades I'll be taking a guitar and taking advantage of any opportunities that arise to sing a song or two. Bye for now.