Shevy Smith at Monmouth
College
Concert Review By: Brianna
Nightingale, CSO Contributing Journalist
When
I learned that Shevy Smith was going to perform at Monmouth
College just half an hour from me, I knew I had to attend her
concert. Although this was the fourth time I saw her in the last
fourteen months, I still found her entire show to be riveting.
This young songwriter was raised in the small town of Haven,
Kansas (which she notes is “incidentally one letter short of
Heaven”). On her website she describes Haven as a town where
“quilts are made by hand, pie-baking is a highly practiced art,
and folks can turn an old cottonwood tree into a beautiful kitchen
table in a mere afternoon.”
Catching the audience’s
attention immediately, Smith launched into her set with a piece
called “Born To Be” from her newest album, September Songs.
Transitioning into chords from the next song, “Blueprint,”
Smith never stopped strumming the strings of her gorgeous Dove
guitar, one of Gibson’s finest acoustic guitars, while she told
stories about her songs.
Predominantly influenced by her
parents choice of music, which mostly included Emmy Lou Harris and
Tom Petty, “70’s Radio” is a song that describes the nights
Smith’s father would take her and her brothers to test drive
cars they knew they couldn’t afford. Smith and her siblings
would gripe about the music they were forced to listen to;
however, a few years later, her outlook changed. She eventually
told her third grade teacher that she wanted to be Tom Petty when
she grew up.
Mentioning her admiration for
Petty, Smith lunged into her favorite part of the show: testing
the audience’s singing ability with a few verses of “Free
Falling.” After “Red Rock Road” and a new song that isn’t
on either of Smith’s albums, she played my current favorite song
of hers, “Master Peace.” Although all of her lyrics are
inspirational, those for this tune are perfect for what I’m
going through right now: graduating from college.
“Here we are now at this
turning point in time / what we do now is how we will be defined /
fight for love but hate how we fight / a million faces from
different places all just tryin’ to get it right / and I’m
just trying to matter.”
Following that with my second
favorite song, “Hummingbird,” Smith wrapped up the show with
“Wichita,” “Circus Girl,” which is a new one, and
“Shine,” the song she says she lives by these days.
Anyone who is fortunate enough
to see this brilliant artist in concert will leave with a smile on
their face. Smith is inspirational, fun and undeniably open to
talk to fans after each show. Whether onstage singing or off stage
posing for photographs and getting to know her fans, Smith never
disappoints an audience.
