No Need For ‘Keeping Up With The Joneses’
February 15, 2010 • By Rachel Dozier, The Breeze
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Cowboy boots, jean outfits and flannel — lots of flannel. Wilson Hall took a trip down to Dixie on Thursday night when the University Program Board hosted singer and songwriter Corey Smith.
“Most of the time I play in bars; this is kinda weird,” Smith said. “Like, this is too good for us.”
Smith played last week in Texas where the floor was made of sawdust.
“It’s so incredible to have been there one week and to be in this historic building now,” he said.
Though the music and feel definitely had a Southern quality to it, Smith made it clear he didn’t want to be labeled as “country.” One of the most energetic songs of the night was “If That’s Country.” In the song he talks about typical country stars saying, “I don’t watch CMT/ Naw, that shit makes me sick/And that ole Kenny Chesney/what a hypocrite.”
Despite his dislike of the stereotypical country singer, Smith’s concert definitely gave the feel of a barnyard hoedown. In his second song, “Party,” the audience was transformed from a uniform group sitting in assigned rows at a high school talent show, to a sea of foot-stompers and hand-clappers.
Smith’s opener for the night was Bryan Elijah Smith (no relation). The Dayton native rocked both the electric and acoustic guitar. As the first place winner at the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival for songwriting, Elijah Smith was picked by Corey Smith out of a pool of applicants to open the show. Even with a love for Johnny Cash songs and incredible talent on the electric guitar, Elijah Smith was clearly nervous; he plugged his album more than five times and continuously asked “Are there any Corey Smith fans here tonight?” anytime the crowd got noisy.
After the crowd had waited 30 minutes following the opening act, they began to chant “Corey Smith, Corey Smith.”
Less than five minutes later as the “Welcome Back Kotter” theme song poured out from the speakers, Smith strolled on stage wearing his famous sunglasses and carrying an acoustic guitar. He paused for a second and then began to sing, “These times are a changin’. But I’m still the same old son of a bitch.”
That opening line defined it all. Smith continued through the night making jokes and talking about some “dirtier” topics. From “promiscuous sex” to being a “potential alcoholic,” nothing was taboo. Smith willingly provided back stories to his more controversial songs, such as “F— the Po-Po” which he wrote after police falsely arrested him and he spent several nights in jail. He proudly sang one of his new songs “Dirtier by the Year,” which talked about how his mind strayed to more unsavory topics as he grew older.
One noticeable difference in this concert was Smith’s setup. Freshman Beth Farmer has seen Smith perform six times.
“I’ve never seen him sitting down while singing,” she said. “It’s normally at a bar.”
Freshman Brittany Flippo, who was seeing Smith for the second time, agreed.
“I liked it though,” Flippo said. “It was really mellow in the beginning and then it got more energetic.”
And for the audience, the set up didn’t seem to matter much. Every song was a new experience, producing a variety of reactions. During the song “First Dance,” couples and friends went into the aisles to dance together, and in the song “Twenty-One” several students waved lighters.
This down-to-earth vibe was laced throughout the show. Singing about $8 bottles of wine and making love on a back road, this Georgia native brought the South to JMU.
“He sings about real world things; he’s just really relatable,” said senior Laura Rogers.
UPB’s director of Center Stage, Angela Morton, said, “We try to address a certain niche in Wilson. He had the highest results, over 1,200, in our poll last spring. This is a genre of music we hadn’t addressed since the 2007 Josh Gracin show.”
More than 900 seats out of 1,200 were sold for Thursday’s concert.
Though Smith’s most recent album is titled “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” it was clear this school teacher, father and husband has no such intentions. He seemed perfectly content with playing in front of any audience that would listen.
Smith’s personality was evident before he even started playing. On Thursday his Twitter said, “If you happen to walk by a salt-covered bus parked in the middle of the JMU campus, please do NOT draw a dick on it. Thanks, management.”
Contact Rachel Dozier at dozierra@jmu.edu
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