It’s always insightful to hear a group’s early recordings and get a sense of its journey after you’ve been listening to them for years. With its 33rd release, Baton Rouge’s Smithfield Fair previously known as Charmer, provides such an opportunity by repackaging most of its 1983 LP
From The Cradle to the Grave and its ‘84 follow-up
Dancing in the Dust for the first time on CD and digital platform format. (The Charmer-Smithfield Fair name change wouldn’t occur until ’89 when Smithfield Fair moved to the Scottish music of its shared heritage for the next 20 years).
These early recordings were seminal in the Capital City group’s evolution since they established the blueprint of what Smithfield Fare is today. As these 16 tracks reveal, all the ingredients were there from the get-go, the deep, quality songwriting; Jan Smith’s astonishingly pure voice: resounding harmonies and exceptionally strong performances, especially on “When the Spirit Moves” where no ounce