# Chris Smither at Mather Redwood Grove, July 23, 2019

[UC Botanical Garden](https://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/summer-concerts-2019/july-23-2019) presents [Chris Smither](http://www.smither.com/)  
[Mather Redwood Grove, UC Botanical Garden](http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/)  
[200 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA 94720-5046 USA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=200+Centennial+Drive,+Berkeley,+CA+94720-5046+USA&hl=en)  
5:30 PM, Tuesday, July 23, 2019

[[2019-07-21|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2019|Up to the 2019 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2019#July_events|Up to the 2019 event list!]] ☸ [[2019-07-25|On to the next event!]]

## One Set

[5:32 PM announcements from Christine Manou, Smither takes his chair]

01. [5:36 PM] _Open Up_
02. [5:39 PM] _Make Room for Me_
03. [5:42 PM] _Don't Call Me Stranger_
04. [5:47 PM] _Time Stands Still_
05. [5:51 PM] _Nobody Home_  
[5:59 PM; Chris talks about songwriting]
06. [5:59 PM] _Down to the Sound_
07. [6:02 PM] _Train Home_  
[6:06 PM; Chris talks about learning from the original blues guys]
08. [6:07 PM] _What It Might Have Been_  
[6:12 PM; Chris talks about sturdy songs, Bob Dylan & Chuck Berry]
09. [6:13 PM] _Maybelline_
10. [6:16 PM] _Everything on Top_
11. [6:20 PM] _The Blame's on Me_
12. [6:23 PM] _Get a Better One_  
[6:26 PM; Chris tells a joke about Two Dogs and a Cat at the Pearly Gates]
13. [6:27 PM] _By the Numbers_  
[6:32 PM; Chris talks about hearing Dylan in '66]
14. [6:32 PM] _Visions of Johanna_  
[6:37 PM; Chris talks about learning songs from the street vendors while growing up in New Orleans]
15. [6:38 PM] _No Love Today_
16. [6:45 PM] _Change Your Mind_
17. [6:49 PM] _Sittin' on Top of the World_
18. [6:53 PM] _Leave the Light On_  
[set ends 6:58 PM]  
   
**Finale**
19. [6:59 PM] _Statesboro Blues_  
[7:02 PM; final words from Christine Manou]  
[show ends 7:03 PM]


## Performers

* [Chris Smither](http://www.smither.com/): acoustic guitar, vox;

## Notes

Another fine afternoon concert in the Redwood grove. It's quite curious to me that whereas last week's [Ramsey & Broemel show](http://www.funfolks.net/dw/doku.php?id=2019:2019-07:2019-07-16) had an audience that seemed to be about 80% families with small kids, today's show was about 80% grey hairs. Guess that says something about the acoustic blues demographic, eh?

As you might guess, the absence of little ones made for a significantly quieter ambience. All the better for listening to the masterful playing of Chris Smither.

I was kind of surprised that he omitted _Love You Like a Man_ from his setlist, but I can understand if he's bored of it, or simply playing the rotation on a large repertoire. Seems like he played about half the latest album, _Call Me Lucky_, released Spring 2018. I would have bought it after the show, but as I passed the merch table, it looked like they were all gone already, and only a single copy of an earlier album was left. Good for Chris, bad for me!

All four of the cover tunes were significantly rearranged from the originals -- perhaps a testament to Chris's notion of picking sturdy songs that are amenable to being reworked. Fun to hear something familiar, and then interesting to realize that it's not swinging the way you expect it to go. Good stuff!

## Photos

Today's photo gallery comes from ol' squinty!

{{gallery>:2019:2019-07?20190723-*.jpg}}

{{:wip.png?nolink}}  **Whoa!**  This section is incomplete for now, sorry! {{:wip.png?nolink}}

{{tag>music Chris_Smither Mather_Redwood_Grove }}

[[2019-07-21|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2019|Up to the 2019 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2019#July_events|Up to the 2019 event list!]] ☸ [[2019-07-25|On to the next event!]]