A Conversation with Chris Smither (continued)

PM: It's been a trademark of yours for such a long time to mic your feet live, and in the studio, too, I see.

CS: Yeah.

PM: Did you at one time, or do you currently, use one of those boards, or do you just stick mics on the floor? Or how do you do it?

CS: I have a board. I use just a piece of high-density particle board. And I just put a mic down by it.

PM: So it's nothing that plugs in or anything?

CS: No, no.

PM: It's just a board.

CS: [laughs] I've had a lot of people try to sell me things. "Hey, this is the board--this board sounds fabulous." And I try to minimize the whole thing. I use particle board because it's dense and it doesn't have any tonal qualities of its own. I don't want any tone. [laughs]

PM: "I got a foot for that."

CS: Yeah, really. It's funny. It's not something that I really think about. Tapping my feet, the whole thing is just unavoidable. It's one of those things I just have to deal with.

PM: Right.

CS: And so sometimes it's a little alarming when people really want to know about it.

[laughter]

PM: "What, you got a foot fetish?"

[laughter]

CS: Really. Here I am trying to deal with this affliction, and all you want to do--

PM: "Oh, you want to talk about it."

CS: Yeah, really.

[laughter]

PM: So I'll get off of that, then. But one more question--and I mean it seriously--do some shoes or boots work better for that, or are you just--

CS: Yeah. I'm very particular about which shoes I use. And they get harder and harder to find, because I like light shoes, very light Italian shoes with thin soles, and thin leather soles, because I like a hard rubber heel and a thin leather sole, because it gives you a lot of differentiation between the way the heel and the sole sound, because I rock my foot back and forth.

PM: I see. You get two sounds.

CS: Yeah. And so I've gotten to the point where the shoes that I use for playing and recording, I don't wear on the street.

PM: Right. You don't want to wear them out.

CS: No. The pair that I've got now have been resoled like three times.

PM: Wow.

CS: And I think this time, if I can avoid walking on the street them, they'll last a lot longer.

PM: [laughs] Well, I'm glad I asked that. It's pretty damn interesting, actually.

That's an unbelievable Peter Case song you picked for this record, "Cold Trail Blues."

CS: Oh, it's beautiful, man. Peter is--he should be famous. He should be a lot more famous than he is.

PM: I couldn't agree more. I interviewed Peter a long time ago. And yeah, I just think he's one of the greats.

CS: Yeah. And a good guy, and he's funny, too. I love hanging out with him. It's great.

PM: So how do you know that song and--

CS: It's just always been a favorite of mine, we're good friends. Flying Saucer Blues, I believe, was the album that that one came out on. And to me, it was a standout song. It's not one that he plays a lot, but one that I always liked.

PM: Yeah. It's so naked and so self-effacing, and just so true, or something--

CS: Yeah.

PM: --awful, awful good. That was an interesting idea of your friend Steve Tilston to play "Visions of Johanna" as a waltz.

CS: Yeah. That just came about--he kept telling me about it. And he said, "You got to try it. You got to try it." [laughs] I remember we were riding in the car, and we were singing it. And he says, "This will work in three." And I said, "What are you talking about it?" And he says, "Well, listen, all the key lines like really work." "Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule"...

PM: Yeah, right.

CS: So it was really interesting. And then I mentioned it to Goody, and he got really excited about it. He said, "Oh, we gotta do that, man. We gotta do that."

[laughter]

PM: Is he a friend? Is Dylan is friend of yours?

CS: No, I've never met the man.

PM: Isn't that something?

CS: Yeah.

PM: How can that be? I mean, so many gigs, and so many of the same joints, the same years.

CS: I don't know. It just never happened. I've barely laid eyes on him. I think I've only seen him once or twice.

PM: That's really amazing. I would never have thought that... Your version of "Johanna," it's kind of a quick waltz.

CS: It's actually 6/8 more.

PM: It's more 6/8-y, right.

CS: Yeah.

PM: Have you ever had occasion to see anyone move to it, anybody dance to it, yet?

CS: No, huh-uh.

PM: Because that'll be something to see, the day somebody hits the floor when you play it.

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