Insider Preview: John Smith in Fretboard Journal 46

The last time John Smith swung through Seattle, while he was on tour opening for Patty Griffin, after he performed a lovely version of his song "Hummingbird" we kept him cornered for a quick chat about everyone's favorite alternate tuning: DADGAD. "Hummingbird," you see, is the title track from John's recent album of "folk songs" — mostly covers from deep in the canon, plus a few originals (we spoke at length about the record here) — and it just so happens to be in DADGAD (the liner notes for the album thoughtfully include the tunings for each of the songs). On top of that, for years John has been nagging Joe Henry to give DADGAD a try, a habit that paid off in spades on Henry's recent release, The Gospel According to Water. As Joe told us, "John always encouraged it as the next step for me—‘the grown man’s tuning’—and then one day, the tumbler fell, and I haven’t turned back from it. DADGAD is now my home base––and most of The Gospel According to Water was written and recorded in that tuning."

Under the circumstances, we couldn't help but pick John's brain on the subject of alternate tunings, resulting in a nice little video you can find on YouTube, plus a Spotify playlist comprised of John's selections for "DADGAD's Greatest Hits," right over there. ➡︎ 

With John featured in Issue 46, shipping now, seems like it's the perfect time to share this bit of the story with you.