 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
A Conversation with Mindy Smith (continued)
PM: I have an advance copy of the record, so I don't know all the credits on it. But it sounds like one of those tracks at least is Sonny Landreth, and I think I hear Kenny Vaughan in there too, right?
MS: Right. We've got an amazing collection of artist musicians. Sonny came in and played on "Jolene," which is a bonus track on the record. Sonny played on that track, but I don't think he's on any of the other tracks on the record. We've got Kenny Vaughan and Will Kimbrough mostly on electric.
PM: Wow. I thought there was one more amazing slide track. Maybe that's Kimbrough.
MS: Might be Kimbrough. We had a whole bunch of people. But Bryan Sutton plays through the whole record.
PM: Bryan Sutton plays strictly acoustic? [see our review of Bryan's latest]
MS: Yeah, for this record he did.
PM: He's pretty astonishing.
MS: He's phenomenal. He's just as much an important element as the songs themselves, I think, with this record.
PM: Oh, it's like that.
MS: Yeah, I think it is.
PM: Oh, wow.
MS: I think that the musicians on this record put everything they had into it, and really didn't hold back, that's how it feels to me, and they really made a difference.
PM: Did Kenny Vaughan play a lot on the record?
MS: Yeah. Kenny plays on a lot of the songs. I think it's probably equally distributed between Kenny and Will.
PM: Ah, yeah. Two of my favorites. Who played bass and drums?
MS: We had a number of different bass players. Dave Jacques came in and played on some of it. Victor Krauss played on some of it, and Glenn Worf.
PM: Wow. Just the best. And drums?
MS: Well, we had Paul Griffith and Shannon Forrest on drums.
PM: You've had a lot of contact with Dolly Parton because of the single and going on TV with her and stuff. She's so amazing. Let's talk a little about her.
MS: Okay.
PM: What's your experience been like with her?
MS: She's been an incredible support to me. She really has reached out. That's really moving, when you know that this person has no reason, nothing at all to gain other than the gratification of seeing somebody else succeed. When someone like Dolly reaches out to you, it is humbling. She just decided she likes what I do. [laughs]
PM: Yeah.
MS: I mean, it's been a phenomenal situation, and it's one of those situations that you can't really explain to people because what do you have to relate it to?
PM: Right.
MS: I don't have one. There's a lot of support from a lot of people that I've never expected, or I've always wanted. Just meeting some my heroes has been a remarkable experience. That's one of the main reasons why I got into this, writing songs--
PM: [laughs]
MS: --to meet some of the people who made a difference in my life with their music. And I've gotten to meet a handful of people so far, so that's the most exciting thing for me.
PM: Yeah. I'm sure you're going to bump into a lot of really heavy people in the next six months. And people don't realize, for instance, the power of Dolly Parton. I mean, I've been on the Opry stage or this stage or that stage where I could feel something behind me, and I turn around and it's Dolly just standing a few feet behind me, and it's like [gasps]--it like took my breath away, she was just like shining.
MS: Yeah.
PM: You could feel her presence. She was awesome.
MS: Yeah, she's an awe-inspiring person, and humble, too. [laughs] She's a very sweet, very funny lady.
PM: And she's very self-effacing. Like she'll say, "Well, I'm kind of like a cartoon now, I'm this thing, I'm Dolly Parton." But when you see her and you experience her up close, it's nothing like that.
MS: Huh-uh. She's anointed.
PM: Yeah. She's like an anointed person.
It looks obvious that Vanguard has got big plans for you. What's it like working with them? Are they good?
MS: Oh, God, yeah. Oh, what an incredible group of people. I mean, they've gone so far, they've just done so much to make this record work. And they're so excited about the record that at this point, they won't take no for an answer. And who could ask for more than for your label to be that excited about you? I don't think anybody could. They get up and they're ready to go get this record out there. I couldn't ask for more than that.
PM: It's amazing. continue
