Steven Smith – Acoustic Lead Guitarist

Date: January 2010
Name: Steven Smith (Scratch)
Website: www.scratchandsnifflive.com
Genre: acoustic pop rock
Instrument: Lead Guitar / Harmonica


Steven Smith (a.k.a. Scratch) is one of those rare accomplished guitarists that enjoy playing just for the sake of the music itself. His rhythmic accompaniments generate a bouncy groove that really allows one to hear the richness of acoustic guitar playing. The first time I heard Steve play was while he and Peter Duffield (3 Blind Mice) were performing a gig at Calente’s Restaurant in Central, just northeast of Baton Rouge. Their music was tight and polished, performing as an acoustic duo known as Scratch & Sniff (www.scratchandsnifflive.com), and playing a variety of 60’s & 70’s folk rock cover tunes.

Steve’s guitar playing was inspired by the early country fingerstyle guitarists, Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed, who both utilized a pulsating bottom end in their playing. Steve’s guitar style, however, exhibits a lot more melodic flow rather than an alternating bass rhythm. And his ability to intuitively blend harmonically with just about anyone, accentuating major and minor based melodies between lines, seems to express a hint of ragtime syncopation. But it is apparently obvious that his foundation is deeply rooted in folk rock. One can easily discern surf and country blues techniques from American bands like the Beach Boys, Grand Funk Railroad, The Grateful Dead and the Eagles in his style. I really enjoy listening to him play and I’ve met several people who agree that “Scratch really has a nice touch on the guitar.”

Steve’s grandfather became his first musical influence. Amos Callegari was from Cottonport, Louisiana. And he played fiddle for a Cajun band for many years. One day he decided to donate his fiddle to a Catholic School. After that, the old man kept up his musical interests playing the harmonica, sometimes playing simple tunes for his grandchildren.

This early introduction must have really impressed Steve because he can play blues cross harp just as well as any old bluesman from Mississippi. A couple of years ago Steve was hired to record a unique blues harmonica lick that was actually used in a jingle for the Team Toyota commercial, which has aired thousands of times on television since.

By the time Steven Smith was in high school his desire to play music led him to getting one formal lesson on the snare drum. After a month of pounding out cadences his mother had enough. She took the drum back to Montgomery Wards and got him a guitar and amp instead. One day, Steve heard a neighbor named Randy Borne’ playing guitar; Randy had begun taking guitar lessons around this time and was sitting on his porch playing “House of the Rising Sun”. After hearing that, Steve started hanging out with Randy, absorbing as much as he could and then eventually showing him some things on the guitar as well.

At the age of 16 Steve got his first acoustic guitar and it was during these early years that he actually began developing his own unique melodic playing style. His emphasis was always on being an accompanist rather than a solo guitarist. He says the best gig he ever played was in November of 2005 at the Beaumont Civic Center, where he and 3 Blind Mice were privileged to open for Edgar and Johnny Winter at a benefit for victims of Hurricane Rita.

Over the last 40 years, Steve has developed a solid understanding of musical scales and has formed his own method of practicing them as a kind of warm up fingering exercise. His guitar picking technique employs holding a flat-pick while clawing the treble strings with his middle and ring fingers. Preferring nylon strings, the effect he produces is very punchy, yet mellow at the same time.

One night I invited Steve to come check out the open mic at LaFonda’s. When he showed up, he just leisurely introduced himself to a couple of musicians and before you know it he was sitting down and effortlessly playing along like it was nothing. He has a natural ability to blend in with any kind of musical style or genre. Later in the evening, he played lead guitar for Steve Judice, performing a few original Red Dirt Americana tunes such as “Outta Luck Again,” and “Nobody Talks”. It sounded incredible. Donna and I wished we would have had a film recorder going.

The first time I performed live music with Steven Smith was during the Clinton Community Art Market last November (2009). We set up a small P.A. in front of the Landmark Bank and played out toward the street nonstop for three hours - everything from the Beatles to John Prine to the Doors – and had a blast. I was absolutely amazed at how he could just follow along on a song he’d never heard before and just come up with some of the most incredible musical embellishments right on the spot. There were a lot of people who came up to me afterward to say how much they enjoyed the music.

Be sure to check out Steve Smith’s calendar and new music webpage at www.scratchandsnifflive.com and try to make it to one of his performances or just listen to some of his music online.