Free and Almost Free CDRs
Rod Wallace and I
started playing music together in the 1960s, when we were in
our early teens. During the 1970s, we left our homes in Alabama and traveled to Dallas
at the request of one of my old friends who was managing bands at the time.
Little did we know we were entering into a great adventure that would change
the course of our music and our lives forever.
To our great fortune, we were able to travel as musicians throughout Texas and the Southwest at the time that a great revolution in music was going in Texas, especially in the Austin area. During the first year we were in Texas, we got a job playing for Chelsea Street Pubs, then a popular club chain based in Austin. It was a wonderful, magical time, and we were inspired and influenced in a big way. I remained out West for about 5 years, and Rod stayed for almost 15.
A couple of years back, I began reminiscing about
those times and writing an almost true narrative account of our first year
in Texas for my nieces and nephews. I talked to a lot of people about the
times, and it often came up in conversations that we used to try and tape
everything we could to listen back to for the purpose of making our
music better. So, somewhere, I knew there must be some old cassette tapes of band
practices and performances that survived. I began asking around and one day emailed our
old band's guitarist, Joe Crisler, who had ended up marrying a Texas girl and
settling down in Whitney Texas, near Waco. To my great joy, Joe sent me a box of tapes that
included about 15 of us making music together.
The tapes are old and worn, mostly made on cheap
cassette players, and the performances often reflect our lack of experience
and skill as musicians at that time. But the spark of inspiration is loud
and clear and there are magic moments when music comes together with
exceptional creativity and feeling. I have been trying to restore them just
for band members, family and friends to listen to.
But I'd also love to share them with others who might have a reason to want to hear them.
For a limited time, I will send a CDR copy of any of the tapes, as they become available, free of charge to anyone in the continental USA who asks. International requests will have to pay postage. If, for some reason, I get more requests than I can afford to send for free, I may have to start charging a small shipping and handling fee. I also have some other recordings that I don't mind sharing. They are listed below. Just shoot me an email at lsmith@allunderonehat.com
Best Wishes...Larry Smith
P.S. If you would like to read my narrative about those early days when our band first went west, I'll be glad to email you a pdf of the latest version.
Old gigs, practices and other recordings on CD-R . available by request
Kinfolk At The Lake, 1979
In the early 1980s the Kinfolk band broke up due to the drummer's chronic illness. Larry and Joe Crisler continued to live in Dallas and perform as a duo. One of the regular gigs was at the historic Melrose Hotel. This tape contains music from that time.
Before moving to Texas in 1978, Larry Smith and Kinfolk recorded two singles at a Muscle Shoals area studio. There are also some bonus tracks of demos cut at that same studio in the early 1980s.
A CDR of Larry's original songs used for experiments with digital recording from the late 1990s until about 2002.