Palling Around: Jonah Smith

SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED is a little help from you friends. Take rootsy soul singer Jonah Smith for example. After he and guest drummer Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors, Joan Osborne) finished a session early, producer Malcolm Burn (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris) had an idea on how to fill the time.

"Why don't you play a cover?" he said to Smith and Comess.

After listing some tunes, they settled on Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home" — a song Smith had been playing live as just piano and upright bass. They tried it with drums and the result was so good, Smith thinks it will make the final record.

"It's got a totally different feel," Smith said. "It's a lot of cymbal playing [from] the drums; there isn't a strong drum beat. I started out with a piano ostinato that starts the whole song and continues — it plays a strong kick-ass beat. My guitarist was playing a slide whale sound with the guitar."

The session was held in Burn's Kingston, N.Y., home studio, where Smith has been recording his new album. The CD is tentatively scheduled to come out next year, he said.

"It was nice, it was very mellow," Smith said of recording in the country. "Got to go up there and really focus on music, get away from all the distractions, phone calls and e-mails."

Comess wasn't the only friend Smith invited to record — another drummer, Brooklyn-based Joe Russo of the indie-jam crossover group Benvento/Russo Duo also appears, as does a horn section. Smith said he was looking for someone with a loose feel to play when he ran into Russo at last month's Jammy Awards in New York City.

"I saw him jam with some people [at the Jammys] and a light bulb went off in my head — like, 'That's what I needed for these songs,'" Smith said.

At the Jammys, Russo played in a band that included Booker T. Jones, Warren Haynes, Grace Potter and Will Lee. Another set had Russo joining members of Umphrey's McGee, Disco Biscuits and String Cheese Incident for a Phish tribute.

"We had never played together but we'd known each other for a few years," Smith said of Russo. "The first time we played together was when Malcolm pressed 'Record.' We spent the morning and afternoon getting to know each other musically. The next day he kind of figured out my way of doing things."

Smith released his third album, "Jonah Smith," on Relix Records in 2006. The album was the first to be released on the revived record-label off-shoot of the jam-band magazine after Smith won Relix's "Jam Off" songwriting contest in 2004. Smith met Relix owner Steve Bernestein at a showcase, and the two developed a friendship that led to the self-titled album's release.

"I'm still friends with those guys, but I kind of decided to go out on my own with this [upcoming] one," he said. "But I'll probably shop it to some different labels, and I'll give [Relix] a crack at it."

Smith cemented his soul-infused sound on his last record, but he said to expect more growth on this new one.

"Well, it's going to be considerably different," Smith said. "I think my sound has expanded a bit. I think it's going to have a bit more — I've been really getting into different harmonies: some Brian Wilsion-ish harmonies, gospel-ish harmonies. Plus, I think the musical imprint of the producer is going to have a pretty strong final say on the actual sonic quality of the recording."

That's what friends are for.

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Written by Express contributor Rudi Greenberg

Photos courtesy Jonah Smith