Spencer Thomas Smith is a Tennessee native currently residing in New Haven Connecticut. In our interview below, Smith describes his music as a baptism, and that’s how the title track of his new album feels. As the repetition washes over you, Smith’s vibrato feels like eddies in a fast-flowing stream.
Does your album have an overarching theme?
I feel that all of my albums, EPs and singles fall under the same overarching emotion: nostalgia. It’s a longing for something new or something old. But mostly it’s a feeling I miss. Tennessee Mud in particular is still drenched in the same nostalgia and Appalachia rain but I deal with some bigger topics like my understanding of God or the universe. To me each one of these songs is like a baptism, like water or being pulled up from the deep trying to figure what the hell is going on here. What is my life, how did I get here, and what do I want to do with it. But at the end of the EP, I wanted to end with what I think is a prayer. “Stained Glass” is me speaking to the universe about how to begin again. My conclusion is to begin again each day as if the universe is waking for the first time. And we can find rest in it.
Have you changed your practices to ensure that your team is diverse?
It is always a goal of mine to have a diverse team around me, which is easier said than done in the music I make. Historically, folk, country, Americana and other genres like it are dominated by straight white men who stole their sound from others and pretended it was theirs all along. So for me it is partially being as diverse as I can with the people I put around me, but also acknowledging the history of the music I make.
Who are some of your musical influences?
My music influences are diverse and widespread through genre and time. From Elvis, John Prine, Hiss Golden Messenger, Tre Bert to Carly Rae Jepsen, Remi Wolf to the Staple Singers. I could go on but music is just so fun and so good that I just wanna take it all in. I also want to let it all wash over me and influence my art. I would hate to be so one track minded that I only listen to things similar to what I make. What’s the fun in that?
Do you have any songwriting tips you can share?
When it comes to songwriting I found that my experience is a bit different. Typically it takes me between 5 and 20 minutes to write a song, and I feel happy with it. This doesn’t mean that it’s good but it’s done. I find it unhealthy to dwell too much on songs, especially lyrics. I like to say things as simply as possible and to get the point across as straight as possible, and if I dwell too much on a word or phrase I will most likely ruin it by overthinking.
Do you start off with the music or lyrics first? Why?
Typically I do everything at the same time. As my life has gotten increasingly busier I found that I am writing melodies and lyrics in my car outside of the school I work at or on the playground while four and five year olds are screaming around me. Then when I get home I pick up a guitar and hash out the chords and structure. I find that a lot of times songs that don’t work as songs work great as poems because I can say more and use more details. On the other hand, some poems turn out to be better songs because I can use the emotion of melody, chords and instrumentation to say something grand without saying much of anything at all. More than all of the above, writing to me is feeling and the process of allowing that feeling to come and go.
Tennessee Mud is available on all streaming platforms now.
Spencer Thomas Smith — Instagram