Show Review: Smooth Hound Smith at Atwoods Tavern 1/27/2016

A chatty atmosphere at Atwood’s got a little quieter with the first harmonized notes of Smooth Hound Smith’s set: “Who’s that knockin’ at my front door / Is that you, death? Come on in.” Then Zack Smith launched into the lead riff of the song and they had the whole place bopping along. Smooth Hound Smith is a gritty rhythm and blues duo, with an emphasis on the rhythm. Zack plays a mean guitar and foot drums and Caitlin Doyle plays tambourine and other percussion instruments–oh, and slays it as a singer. But even as I describe their sound, I feel like I’m being too narrow, as there are clear elements of folk, bluegrass, indie and pop–they’re not playing twelve-bar blues and calling it good.

They followed up “Knockin’ at My Front Door,” with “She Calls Me Daddy,” another foot-stomper and then the soul-soaked ballad, “My Heart’s Not Broken Yet.” Caitlin crushed it, showing her vocal range over Zack’s chopping, spare chords. “Young and Golden” rounded out the first part of the set, showing a different musical influence and style than the blues that they started out with.

They played almost all of their first album and about half of their incredible new album Sweet Tennessee Honey. Part of that was due to an avid fan in attendance who requested a few songs from their debut album. They were great requests, particularly the encore, “Steal Your Crown.” (“This one’s about stealing crowns,” Zack joked.)

Caitlin and Zack bantered easily with the crowd, sharing their trip to one of New England’s most important landmarks, the PEZ factory in Orange, CT. And although Atwood’s can be a funny venue to play, with folks who are there to see and hear music near the stage and folks who are there to eat and drink talking as loudly as possible in the back, Smooth Hound Smith shut up the talkers by being too damn good to ignore.

Highlights for me were “Stopgap Woman Blues,” “30 Days,” and “Get Low,” all of which displayed their fantastic rhythm and ability to be in sync with each other, their vocals which complement each other so well, and Zack’s blistering guitar playing. “California Sway” was beautiful and I saw lots of folks shut their eyes just to take it in that much more.

This is a duo you want to see. Go in knowing nothing, you will walk out a fan. They’re on tour and you can check dates here.