favorite show opener, “Emily.” It still makes me shiver and shake. I tell ya, these cats rock, and if you think they sounded good in Mono, just wait intil you hear ‘em In Stereo. Buy the album and by all means catch them on tour.And if I may be so bold, I highly recom- mend the Meet ‘N Greet Package. All kinds of cool Boxmasters swag, autographs and your picture with Bud, JD and Teddy. Tell ‘em Buf- falo sent ya!
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Michael Buffalo Smith Makin’ It Back to Macon (Dreaming Buffalo) Folks have
been hankering for this sixth Michael Buffalo Smith album for 13 years. Talent
at Smith’s level should never remain bottled that long. That’s not to say that the founder of The Southern Rock Hall of Fame and Mu- seum didn’t otherwise thrive in the time; he’s always pushing the music and its culture. Smith’s six books, and countless magazine ar- ticles, interviews, and reviews, have been in- formative and entertaining. But all that activity can’t diminish the fact that his in- spired ways with a song impress above all. Earlier this year, Smith gave us a glimpse of what’s on his mind with The Austin Sessions, an EP featuring four songs recorded two years earlier and four states away. Highly recom- mended, it took the artist out of his realm, but not the realm from the artist. Beyond that, Smith had a goal. To
record these eleven new praiseworthy per- formances, he went directly to church—the church of Paul Hornsby, in the great South- ern Rock mecca of Macon, Georgia. Hornsby produced classics by the likes of the Marshall
Tucker Band, and played with Duane and Gregg Allman in the pre-Allman Brothers Band quintet, the Hour Glass. Who better then, to produce Makin’ It Back To Macon so meaningfully? “Prologue” opens the album with spoken words recited by Smith’s close friend; the actor, film maker, and fellow rocker, Billy Bob Thornton. In Thornton’s frank voice, Smith’s tender and enthused thoughts provide living context. Smith’s songs, in his own deeply Southern, tuneful inflection, then sum up his life. The delight he finds in the soul food and the historic atmosphere at “Mama” Louise Hudson’s H&H Restaurant, for instance, radi- ates fondly in “Makin’ it Back to Macon.” Hornsby chimes away on piano, and Tommy Talton of Cowboy fame slices the song’s churning melody with his sharp slide guitar. Talton and Hornsby are just two among the many great players that grace the album with purpose. In the dashing “Smell All the Roses,”
Smith reminds us eloquently that the sim- plest of things generate the greatest joys and fulfilment. One can easily feel that he abides by his assertions. The exquisite country/folk of “Both Feet on the Ground” celebrates ideals of faith. Conversely in the darker “On a Still Cold Saturday” (which features such rich allegories as “The hangman sleeps soundly, with no trace of remorse”), Smith encapsu- lates the despair of our times. For the woeful “Tired of Livin’ Blues,”
Smith growls in a way that shows he truly knows the blues. As Talton alone lights up his acoustic slide beside him, that blues flour- ishes to the point of bliss for the listener. “
Epilogue: Reflections at 60”—another
Billy Bob reading of Smith’s words—tenders earnest gratitude. Then, hidden at the climax, Smith cherishes his lifeblood by appending a 1973 recording of his grandma crooning wit- tily.
Makin’ It Back to Macon documents the big man with the huge heart and the
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