The Smittle Band has been virtually dormant for several months because: a) band members were pursuing other projects; and b) the receding winter kept them and their fans in hibernating mode.
But now they’re back.
Vocalist Stephanie Smittle (thus the band’s name) is accompanied by guitarist Wythe Walker, drummer Ray Wittenberg and bassist Bill McCumber. They’ll be joined by guests, including Meredith Maddox Hicks of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra on violin; songwriter Heather Smith on vocals; and Stephen Koch (who hosts the weekly KUAR-FM radio show Arkansongs) on vocals and harmonica.
The show will consist only of originals, Walker says, from new songs to those on the band’s twoCDs: Bright Street and Tales From Tattletown.
“New songs keep coming along, some of which we’ll do [this week],” Smittle says, mentioning “The Littlest Casanova,” a new malaguena-flamenco piece the band made up.
Walker adds that the new material will include “Permanent Embassy,” a song he and Smittle wrote a year ago, and “Dublin,” which hewrote after a trip to Europe a decade ago.
“We have about 10 to 15 new songs,” Walker says, “and we thought we’d go in a new direction and make videos, which is something we’ve never tried before. Stephanie has done some storyboards for her song,‘Dimitri’ and our friend Louise Terzia will help us with art direction. We’ve just never done that next level of marketing.
“We’re just excited to be writing again, and playing again, especially in this great new venue, with its new stage and sound system. And our drummer, Ray Wittenberg, is the publisher of the Oxford American, the folks who opened South on Main and have their offices next door.”
The show is part of the Local Live free Wednesday night concert series sponsored by Landers Fiat of Benton.
The Smittle Band will also perform in another new venue, The Undercroft, a recently conceived space in the basement of Christ Episcopal Church on East Capitol Avenue and Scott Street, at 8 p.m. March 14.
The Smittle Band
7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday,
South on Main, 13th and Main
streets, Little Rock
Admission: free
(501) 244-9660
Style, Pages 27 on 02/25/2014