A brief chat with Caroline Smith

Caroline Smith is coming to Colorado Springs on March 1, to play the Ivywild School. The last time I spoke to her, for another publication, she had just put out her Half About Being a Woman album and we learned that she had opened for BB King when she was 16. This show should be a good one, so it was a delight to talk to her again.C

Yellow Scene: I spoke to you ten months ago – what have you been doing since then? You had just put out the album…

Caroline Smith: I have been touring the album pretty consistently since then. That has led us to very exciting things. I’m now working on the next record. It’s been going really well, and really fun watching the band grow and shift to find a new sound. Now, I’m spending a lot of time in the studio.

YS: How’s the new album coming along?

CS: I’m writing for it, not quite recording yet. So far, so good – it’s my favorite part of the job. I love writing music, thank God. I always hope to be growing and evolving. The last record, I didn’t really know how to play guitar very well – I was just going off of raw stuff that I taught myself. This year, I really put myself through the challenge of teaching myself more about song writing and the mechanics of it. I was scared to do that – I thought it might distract from the natural flow but it’s actually been really inspiring and helpful.

YS: Have you played Colorado before?

CS: Yeah, actually the Ivywild School is one of my favorite places to play. I played there last year, and when we booked this show last minute we were all really excited to be back. Last time we played, it was an acoustic set. Now that I get to have the whole band on stage with me, I’m really excited. It has such a cool vibe there. It has a local brewery down the hall, and it’s a converted schoolhouse so it has a library and we’re playing a gymnasium.

YS: What are your plans for the set?

CS: Our set these days has been high energy, fun, getting the crowd feeling good. We’ve been in Los Angeles, so we’ll probably be bringing that sunny energy.

YS: When this tour’s done, what do you have planned for the rest of the year?

CS: I’ll probably be back out in California, which is where I’m making my record. I kinda want to focus on that because stuff can always come up as a musician – shows and tours – so you have to prepare yourself to finish your record. I don’t know how people finish records while they’re out on tour. It’s so hard to concentrate. So that’s my goal – I want to be able to give myself enough time to finish the writing for the record. I feel like I’m getting really close.