Stephan Smith – Now’s The Time

For the harmonica-racked singer-songwriter, no word rings more like a death knell than earnest. And yet to recognize the power behind early Dylan, Ochs or Guthrie is also to recognize their ardent and earnest spirits.

Stephan Smith knows his Ochs and denim-Dylan well. He describes himself as a “hip-hop country klezmer bushman man”; more simply, he’s a young composer of topical songs par excellence. He has built up some notoriety in New York City for his Sunday shows at the Living Room, where he gathers together gospel choirs, hip-hop artists and old-time country performers for group sing-outs. On his first record, he’s backed by just his pleasantly primitive voice and guitar (though he does frail a banjo on the traditional “Railroad Boy” and adds some creepy Murmur-esque burblings on “Another Man Down”).

Smith’s songs are anthemic calls to unity and action, frequently providing journalistic witness to events such as the school slayings in Paducah, Kentucky, or the 1997 police torture of Abner Louima. His best work combines metaphorical ingenuity with social conscience. The lovely ballad “Oh Death” suggests the political mysteries of Ochs’ “When I’m Gone”, and in “All Together Now” a cascade of images resonates with surreal utopianism: “From a hip-hop singer with machinery/To my niece playing harp sitting on my knee/To a farmer putting his land for sale/To Mumia Jamal speaking from his jail.”

Too much of Smith’s material, however, is uneven, falling short of the imagination needed to raise topical material above the predictable. The title song especially devolves into cliches unlikely to inspire anyone to do or feel anything in particular. But there are enough memorable moments on this debut to suggest Smith’s skills with narrative, melody and word play may eventually range over deeper, wider ground.