Just a Season

Scott Smith has helped make a lot of other people sound great over the years. From the arena-sized country of Aaron Pritchett and the heartland roots-rock of Barney Bentall to a slew of insurgent Vancouver club champs like Rich Hope, Speeding West and Marin Patenaude, Smith has been everybody’s ringer, flipping between guitar and pedal steel while casually raising the bar with lightning technique and unfailing good taste. With his band  Just A Season, Scott Smith switches from sideman to frontman, enlisting some of his favourite players to put the right groove on a collection of songs that recall an era when folk, rock, and country met in a sun-baked embrace.

Produced by Erik Nielsen, Just A Season’s third album Leave To Come Home continues the contemporary Americana vibe of the first two records but adds some new elements to the band’s sound. Smith and second guitarist John Sponarski bring Allman Brothers style twin guitar hooks to “She’s The One” and the gorgeous  “You’re Gonna Be Okay”. Drummer Liam Macdonald adds vibraphone to the English folk of the title track and the spacey instrumental “Stars Burn Out”. Harmony singer Ashley Grant is featured throughout the album, especially shining on the Bobby Charles groove of “That Sunday Sound”. In addition to the rock-solid bass playing of Brad Ferguson and Erik Nielsen, the sonic star of the show might be multi-instrumentalist Matt Kelly (City and Colour) whose pedal steel, Wurlitzer and organ recall the brilliance of Wilco’s Jay Bennett and The Band’s Garth Hudson. And though Smith’s main roles in Just A Season are that of lead singer and songwriter, his slide guitar, harmonica, acoustic fingerpicking, banjo and pedal steel are all key elements to the Just A Season sound as well.