It’s been a period of transition for musician Jimmy Smith.
The songwriter and bass player for the sort-of defunct legendary alt./indie/roots band The Gourds, which broke up in 2013 – “the day Lou Reed died, Oct. 27,” Smith said – found himself moving his family from Austin, Texas, to Missoula, Montana, in 2016.
In Montana, he and his family have settled into a life of raising livestock, and Smith is still making music. After The Gourds’ demise (although there was a reunion show this past April), some members of the band formed the group The Hard Pans and Smith went on to form Smith-McKay All Day with Pat McKay. The two toured and played together for six years, until McKay’s death in 2024.
If you go
WHAT: KDUR and Jimmy’s Main Room present Jimmy Smith.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sept. 25.
WHERE: Jimmy’s Main Room, 1239 Main Ave.
TICKETS: $30. Available at https://www.kdur.org/events/jimmy-smith-concert.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit https://www.kdur.org/events/jimmy-smith-concert.
Smith will be in Durango on Thursday to play at Jimmy’s Main Room at Jimmy’s Music & Supply. The show is presented by KDUR and Jimmy’s Main Room.
Before heading down to Durango, he’ll be playing a house show Wednesday in Lyons. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, check out https://tinyurl.com/47nz6pw5 for more information.
For Smith, the transition from Austin and The Gourds has taken a little getting used to, but he’s managed to make all facets of his life work.
“I was making my living playing in The Gourds, which I started with Kevin Russell and Claude Bernard. We had a pretty good 20-year run, and then that inevitably bit the dust,” he said. “I kind of missed the lifestyle, but I’m adjusting well right now. I primarily raise pigs. I’ve got about 40 right now on my property. And I’m right on the verge of having to get a day gig, and I’d much rather take care of these animals and see if I can side hustle with that, and then have the music ... I also have sheep and alpacas and chicken coop with about 15 hens in it. It’s just fantastic.”
And as for keeping his music going, Smith said he realized that he’s got a ton of music he’s written over the years – The Gourds released 10 albums and he has four solo albums – so why wouldn’t he hit the road when he can and just play?
When Smith takes the stage here next week, he said he’s been working on one-man band music for years and has it pretty much dialed in to where he is able to bring his foot drums and electric and acoustic guitars and perform both electric and acoustic sets.
“I learned how to do a one-man band thing, which I’ve been doing for years, but since I was in The Gourds, I didn’t really do it much, but in downtime, I would go out and play solo every once in a while with this one-man band thing,” he said. “So I decided to become a lot better at it. I’ll play about four or five songs that are really good acoustically. And then I’ll sit down on the drums and get my electric out and bang out some burners, about five or six. Do about four rotations, and you have a nice 90-minute show.”
Performing as a one-man unit is something that Smith said he is seeing more and more of, and perhaps there’s a practical reason behind it.
“It’s becoming quite common now. I think I see a lot of dudes doing it because of probably the same reason: It’s just too difficult to maintain a band because everyone needs to get paid, everybody needs to have a schedule that can allow for you to hit on a level that it needs to be hitting on.”
katie@durangoherald.com
