Smothers/Lawrence by Joe Smothers & Jack Lawrence

Smothers/Lawrence Lost Recordings Found After Nearly 40 Years
Being Re-Released!!

After years of worldwide touring and recording with Doc Watson, Joe Smothers met up with Jack Lawrence and toured as the duo “Smothers and Lawrence”. They toured with John Prine, Leo Kottke, and Emmylou Harris and of course Doc. From this collaboration, Joe and Jack recorded a self-titled album which was released on vinyl in 1981.
After a few years touring as Smothers and Lawrence, Joe took a hiatus from touring and after introducing Jack to Merle Watson, Merle invited Jack to become a full time member of Doc’s newly formed band. And the rest as they say is history!
Joe and Jack went back to the studio where their album was recorded to get the masters only to learn the masters were lost! LOST! So, unless you were lucky enough to grab one of the estimated 2,000 album copies made prior to the loss of the masters, the album went dormant…until a few short weeks ago!
After locating an original, sealed copy of the “Smothers/Lawrence” vinyl album, Joe sought the help of Dave McNair Mastering, one of the best mastering sources in the USA. Dave himself took on the project and artfully remastered the vinyl to digital media.
The album is comprised of nine songs with all but two written by Joe and Jack. Joe’s silky smooth vocals shine through supported by Jack’s powerhouse acoustic guitar picking style. Joe and Jack’s unique take on “Billy in the Low Ground/Beaumont Rag” is a nod to Doc and their Appalachian music heritage. Joe’s blues lament “Wrong so Long” could easily become a classic.
The true artistry of this acoustic duo really grabs one’s imagination on their instrumental “Recently Satisfied”. It’s just a great song that spans the genre spectrum and will be one you’ll play over and over to enjoy the nuances of instrumentation.
Singer/Songwriter tunes like “Phantoms of the Interstate” and “This Old Guitar of Mine” give you a glimpse of personal experiences from Joe and Jack. Joe’s “Margaret de La Fromme” is a classic Storyteller song rich in imagery about the love of the sea… or is it the girl left behind?
“You’re only a stranger once”- Joe Smothers