SMITH AND THE JONESES: “I’m very happy about it—it’s great to finally have it out and to have people listening to it,” Corey Smith says of Keeping Up With The Joneses, his latest release on the Broken Bottle Music label, speaking by phone to the Weekly. Smith’s fans will have a chance to hear the new material—along with his well-worn favorites—when he performs at the Alabama Theatre at 8 p.m. Perhaps no singer/songwriter has witnessed a larger groundswell in his fan base over the past four years than Smith. On Keeping Up With The Joneses, Smith continues his streak of inimitable storytelling in the vein of Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen and Todd Snider. “Most of the songs—with the exception of two or three—I wrote between December and February of last year. I had a pretty good chunk of time off from Christmas to the end of January, and I knew I was going to be sitting down and writing a record,” Smith says. Of his burgeoning career, Smith seems both humbled and surprised. “It’s really been about the fans—it’s been a very organic thing. I certainly never expected to be able to make a living playing music, much less be able to travel around and have the success we’ve had. We’ve been blessed to be in the right place at the right time with the right songs,” he says. Tickets to the show are $20-$25 day of the show and can be purchased at www.alabamatheatre.com or by calling 715-6000.
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