Album Review: Matt Smith – …this is not ok…

Matt Smith has a strong and deeply authentic appreciation of blues and roots music, something that is easy to attest from his …this is not ok… album.

Smith’s vocals are earthy and rich, and he has spoken about the album as being an honest account of his feelings and views of events such as the American presidential election of 2024.

He doesn’t dismiss the problems facing the country but chooses to place them within a wider context, noting in World is a Wheel and Cry for America that things bad and good both shall pass, and hopefully peace will come in their wake. The latter’s extemporising on America the Beautiful, influenced by the classic Ray Charles rendition, and bolstered here by a gallery of vocalists swapping and flowing into each other’s performances is especially mesmerising and uplifting.

I’ll Never Fall in Love Again isn’t a cover of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David classic but looks at similar themes, but Smith and his collaborators bring a sense of humour to bear on its recurring tales of heartache and tables for one.

The album comes to a close with From the Ashes, however it’s not an ending, but a prayer and promise that there’ll be a new day – a song in the best traditional of Southern Gospel music, a light from the past shining the way to a better future.   

“I care very deeply for the world and its people,” Smith says about the motivations and feelings that led to recording the LP. “I knew I had to express what I was feeling, but not in a way that added to the fracture.”

What is also obvious is Smith’s love for the folk, jazz, blues, and roots music of his native land, and his twentieth album is a tribute to those genres – but also an illustration of the many wonderful things America has given to the world. 

That love and willingness to share is also part of his role as executive director of Six String Ranch, the Austin-based residential studio and school he co-founded with Bill Kaman, where he has mentored hundreds of singer-songwriters and instrumentalists from around the world.

You can hear …this is not ok… on SoundCloud and Bandcamp – check out Matt Smith’s Facebook and Instagram pages for more streaming and download info.

Header photo by Nicki Gell