Richard Smith at Caas!

[srgntschultz]

I have been to CAAS the past 4 years and hearing and seeing richard smith play is on the very top of my list,every year. He can play any kind of music/style you can think of and very very well i might add. All the cgps are great players but if he isnt a cgp,then no one else should be either. I cant believe that chet didnt give a cgp to him,maybe he would of but unfortunetly ran out of time. Looking forward to seeing and hearing richard next year at caas! You cant teach what he does, i believe your born with it!

[BillB]

Richard sat in on a jam session, and it was pretty amazing watching him figure out Reed licks that he'd forgotten. I really wish him well, because he is definitely a world class picker and a nice guy as well.

Bill B.

[Ray Bohlken]

[quote="Jack Baker"]Yes I totally agree about Richard but to me, Tommy Jones came the closest to Chet's genius and playing ability as anyone I've ever heard....Jack Baker


Hi Jack. I think Tommy Jones had the touch, great taste, and the "guitar thinkers" mind to come up with some great arrangements and he was a wonderful player. Those videos he made were amazing and his CDs were excellent. I got to see him a couple of times at the C.A.A.S. and really enjoyed his performances. I think Richard Smith is a great guitar player, too, and I enjoy listening to him and watching him, but Tommy Jones was in a league of his own. I think Chet thought a lot of him, too, to set up CGP records and put out one of his CDs.
I hope you're doing well.
Take care,
Ray

[RandeDager]

It's hard to compare Richard and Tommy. Tommy seemed more often to go straight into his own arrangements for everything. Richard also had a few of his own but he seems to play a lot of songs that we we've heard others play, even though he does a great job and we have something to compare them to. Through all of the time I spent with Tommy over the years, about the only thing I've heard him play which was basically note for note from the record was "Huntin' Boots". Though that demonstrated a tremendous amount of physical control, I felt that his creativity and how his mind worked dominated everything I watched him do. I've even watched him come up with new material from scratch and then put it aside and move on to something else. I'm guessing that he "lost" more originals over the years than he ever recorded!

[srgntschultz]

I do agree that tommy was a good guitar player but sometimes guys try and make a song more difficult and add too much to them and it just sounds all mushed up! Like Steve Wariner says you can't outchet CHET!

[keener]

I made Richard aware of this post, and he told me he was very honored by the comments! (Richard doesn't check the Board very often, because he is just super, super busy.) I think Richard is the best picker on the planet today, but it's hard to always know how best to handle awards, and people sometimes get missed. Twenty Five years ago, I could have set up a Bruce Keener award for singing, for example, and say nobody could ever beat Linda Rondstadt at singing and give an award to her, and then I would later say that nobody could ever beat Karen Carpenter, and so on.

Tommy. Ah, yes, Tommy. Totally in a league of his own, as has been said. I have wondered "if I could go back in time in watch one picker all day, would it be Tommy Jones or Jerry Reed?" --- fact is, I don't know. Probably Tommy, since I at least have a handle on SOME of Jerry's stuff, but I don't have a handle on any of Tommy's stuff. So creative and so technically accurate.

[srgntschultz]

Keener if you would when you contact richard again tell him i'm one of the guys from caas that told him while your down there,he will remember us. He is a real talent and super nice guy/guitar picker!Thanks!

[Wes Southerland]

Tommy Jones and Richard Smith. Two of my all time favorite fingerstyle players. I first learned of Richard at CAAS in the year of 2000 and have been listening to him ever since. A true gift of God with the guitar. He is a prodigy in every sense of the word. I will bet he could play any chet style fingerstyle arrangement he listens to in only a small amount of working time. I like what Richard does, he is a hard working musician in various genres of music...... be it Chetstyle, Jazz, Swing, Bluegrass, etc. I have enjoyed them all over the years. Keep them recordings coming Richard!

Now for Tommy... He was a true virtuoso player, the type who could capture your attention for hours. I have videos that folks have sent me that have amazed me at the beautiful music Tommy was capable of. Only a handful of players over the years have what Tommy had. Chet saw it and I am grateful he did or we would not know the music of Tommy Jones...... A True Talent. I sure hope to come across more of his material and if any of you have it I will transfer it for you to DVD.

Two different types of players, both tops in what they do. Thats how I see it anyhow.
Thanks,
Wes

[RandeDager]

Hey Wes! I know I called you just before the convention and was ready to send you my videos of Tommy. For some reason I no longer have a working VCR and hate the idea of you having to "plow through" the footage to find what you want to transfer to DVD. I may just do it anyway, but I'm embarrassed to have you go through so much to find it. No, I never forgot.

[srgntschultz]

I wasnt looking to compare who is the better guitar player,i didnt even bring up tommy jones. But i really did enjoy the great guitar playing by richard smith at caas. He is a true prodigy in every sense of the word,and i still think there are no guitar players at caas that can play as many styles of fingerstyle guitar and do all of them great as richard. And he dosent just play chets tunes all week long either.