Father and son Andrew and Zachari Smith tap into folk spirit

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Andrew and Zachari Smith make their Lethbridge debut at the Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s Den, March 24.
 The father and son duo from Kelowna, British Columbia stop by Lethbridge in the midst of a three week tour of the prairies, including folk clubs and other listening rooms.Andrew and Zachari Smith play the Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s Den, March 24. Photo submitted


“Well, it’s kind of a mix of contemporary alt folk and country. My son and I both play guitar and some dobro and mandolin,” Andrew Smith said.
They have never made it to Lethbridge, though they have played the Tongue on Post winter festival in Medicine Hat.


“And my son plays suitcase snare drum. He went through a lot of Value Villages looking for just the right sounding suitcase,” he continued.
 The other big part of their show is tap style guitar, which is similar to Eddie Van Halen style fretboard tapping, but is a lot more percussive, using the body of the guitar.


“ I play a lot of tap style instrumentals. It has evolved over the last eight to 10 years. I started listening to great Canadian tap musician Don Ross and then Andy McKee who really got me interested. He’d let go of the strings and tap harmonics,” he continued adding researching their influences, got him into Michael Hedges.
“It’s a very visual technique  and very personal. One I saw it, I was very interested in learning how to play it,” he said.
“I was absolutely fascinated by these guys,” he said.


 He is enjoying playing with his son, who is just starting his own music career.
 They recently recorded an album together called “Travelling” due to fan interest, and started ‘travelling’ to support it.
“After he finished school, we started playing together. Zach started to write some stuff,” he said.
 People have responded well  to the duo working together.


“It just works on some level. It’s pretty surprising, but it’s really been encouraging. People like to see the two perspectives — Zach, the 23-year-old man who’s playing career has just started and me, a 49-year-old man who has been playing for many years,” he said.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 March 2012 10:39 )