Putnam Smith - kitchen, love...

Ya gotcher fiddle, ya gotcher banjo, ya gotcher lines like “You got beans, I got corn, let’s go make some succatosh til the morn.” This is a dandy homespun album, but don’t let the word ‘homespun’ fool you.  Putnam has assembled a dozen original songs played and sung by himself and some impeccably wonderful musician friends from Maine, such as Sorcha Cribben-Merrill, Connor Garvey, Erica Brown, Jason Rafalak, Brad Yoder and more.

He has a quiet, mellow voice that reminds me of John Sebastian. “Looking Up” ventures into a piano/trumpet jazzy place. I love the line “(I’ll) let my beard grow around my smile.” from the song, “Emily Dickinson.” I love at the end of the same song when he calls out the names of all the flowers in the garden, one after the other, and you just know he has a personal relationship with each of them.

My favorite cut on the CD is “Cast Iron Pan”, which has a hilarious music video on his website. putnamsmith.com In short, he playfully sings to his woman, “Nothin’ turns you on like my cast iron pan,” and “I keep my skillet good and greasy, I keep my stove hot as hell, if you just keep on lovin’ me like you do so well.” This is a very likeable and fun CD, and will definitely entice listeners to come see Putnam Smith in concert.

Of note is that the song, “The Stars Will Line Up Someday,” won the #5 Best Song of the week for The Alternate Root, thealternateroot.com

His love of the the land and big heart really comes through, and the tunes are full of food and love imagery, which is for real too. Putnam plants vegetables, plays many musical instruments, and even printed his own CD Jackets on a 1901 Pearl Letterpress, on recycled cardstock! His album is available for barter. I mean, this guy is earning so many brownie points he's almost a saint! Plus he's adorable. What more could you want? On his website is the message: “My garlic is now planted and I'm off on my first long tour of the season!”

I can’t wait to see him the next time he’s playing in Portland.