www.smileyandthelovedawg.com
I'll tell you a bit about Smiley and the Lovedawg and the music we play. Steve White and I have been friends for over thirty years and have been playing music together for almost as long. I write many of the songs, sing, and play guitar; Steve sings harmony and plays the mandolin, slide-mandolin, and fiddle. While he has a natural rapport with any string instrument, Steve stands out from the crowd when playing the mandolin. Throughout the last few years, our friend, Leslie Gengozian has been joining us to sing and play violin. Lately, our friend Ian Davidson of Briar Thicket has also been playing a few gigs with us on guitar, bass and vocals and we’re starting to call the configuration of all four of us together Grouchtown Grinners. We play a somewhat eclectic mix of acoustic folk, rock, bluegrass, blues, rags, and older country interspersed with as many of our own songs as the audiences will bear at the bars, weddings, festivals, coffeehouses, and house parties we play. We probably sound like the East Tennessee valley where we're all from - melodies, rhythms, and images from Appalachia mixed with the sensibilities and concerns of factory towns, polluted and otherwise affected by a variety of outside influences. On Steve and my first CD, “Smiley and the Lovedawg,” we tried to make a recording that sounds as good and relaxed as Steve and I feel when we're playing as a duo. I wrote twelve of the songs and co-wrote one with our friend, Earl Pruitt. Chris Pelton, a great local songwriter, let us sing one of our favorites of his. Our second CD, “Off On Exit 65,” built on the successes of the first recording by including both recordings that feature only the duo and recordings that include members of the band Exit 65. As on the first recording, I wrote most of the songs, but we also included a traditional tune (St. James Infirmary) and a song by our friend, Howard Lee Heifner. Both CDs are available at CD Baby.com. At a typical show we will play several of the songs from both of these CDs, some new ones, a few standards from a variety of genres, and a few traditional tunes. We are always happy to tailor our set lists to meet the needs of the audience and promoter. You can find out when we’re playing and hear a few songs at the sites below. Write or come see us sometime! Sincerely, Chris Durman http://www.facebook.com/SmileyandtheLovedawg http://www.myspace.com/smileyandthelovedawg smileylovedawg@yahoo.com
smileylovedawg@yahoo.com
http://www.facebook.com/SmileyandtheLovedawg