Smitty:  Yes.

JC:  If I’m doing a CD like, okay, “CD of our music” and I certainly get behind it, but not like…like I’ll go to the mat for this mental illness thing, this NAMI thing.  I’ll go to the mat for it.  I won’t go to the mat for myself.

Smitty:  Yeah.

JC:  You know what I mean?  And I’m not….again, I’m not trying to shine a light on me about “Oh, what a nice person.”  Not, please, not at all.

Smitty:  Oh, no.

JC:  It’s not about me.  I’m just….I’m better when it’s for something else. And since this one is for something else, I think as people we rise to that occasion or calling, do you know what I mean?

Smitty:  Yes indeed, and I think it’s one of those things that as humans we readily identify with.

JC:  Mm-hmm.

Smitty:  Because not just mental illness, but mental illness is something that we all are familiar with, either be it a relative or a friend of a relative.

JC:  Ourselves.

Smitty:  Yeah.

JC:  How many times have we struggled with a problem?  We wouldn’t be diagnosed as clinically struggling with mental illness, but how many times have we gotten into a funk. People can relate to getting into a funk they can’t break out of for some reason.

Smitty:  Yeah, absolutely.

JC:  Maybe it lasts a few days longer than it should. We can all relate to that.

Smitty:  Yes indeed, and that’s why I love the therapeutic value of great music like this record here, Revolving Door.

JC:  Mm-hmm.

Smitty:  Absolutely.  I think music….and I know I’ve said this so many times….I really think that music has a deeper therapeutic value than we know.

JC:  Oh, it’s so…yeah, more than we’ll ever know.  It’s on almost a mystical level that’s beyond understanding of exactly how it works but yet we know it works.

Smitty:  Yeah, yeah.

JC:  It’s on a very deep, kind of mystical, spiritual level that music affects people.

Smitty:  Exactly, absolutely.

JC:  And also on a very, let’s say, unmystical plane, whether or not this is necessarily a cause that someone is particularly attached to or connected to. And this is, again, this is almost embarrassing to talk about, and I hope, you know, I don’t want this to come out wrong.

Smitty:  Oh, no.

JC:  But this is not a sales pitch. Of course I want the record to sell, but this is not why I’m saying it, but when somebody picks up the CD, whether or not mental illness is a part of what they’re personally connected to, you’re helping that cause.

Smitty:  Yes indeed.

JC:  Physically some money will go to NAMI for mental illness, but also it’s sort of perpetuating, hopefully, on a different plane, just that awareness, and even if you can raise awareness in a couple people or in a few people a little bit, then it’s better than not having done it all.

Smitty:  Yes, you are so right. Plus there are also other benefits. Getting the record, certainly you’re going to be benefiting NAMI but also you’re benefiting yourself by getting some great music. I mean, this is a great record. I mean, normally we would just get great music, but now we’re able to help out some other people that are in need, so I love it, yeah.

JC:  Mm-hmm. This one was just more personal and deeper for me, way deeper for me. After you make a few CD’s or anything, not just CD’s, whatever it is a person does, after they’ve written so many books or taught so many classes or put out so many fires or made so many presentations, you have to start searching a bit for what’s the meaningful here?  How can I impart something, give something to either….whoever you’re giving a mission to, whatever it is that you do….how can you up the bar?  How can you reach out more?  How can you just raise the level?

Smitty:  Yes. I know what you mean.

JC:  And so for me, since I’m a musician, this is what I do. I feel I can say this confidently on a personal level.  Now whether anybody else will feel this or not, it’s truly up to them. But on a personal level, I have raised my own bar.

Smitty:  That’s cool.  I think if we all did that, the world would be a much better place.  .

JC:  We are doing it. Don’t you find, though?

Smitty:  Yes.

JC:  With every interview you do, don’t you find yourself “Well, how can I…?”  You know?  I know you care a lot about your interviews.  We were talking about it off mic.  You’ve thought about this.

Smitty:  Oh yeah, I take it very personal and I always have the musician or the artist in mind because I think here’s where I can make a difference, I hope. So I wanna do the best I can at making a difference in getting the music out there and keeping it fresh.

JC:  Right.  You’re not sitting here with me with some straight set of questions that you ask everybody just to get through the interview and get this done.  You know, you’re passionate about this, so each and every interview you do, you take it to another realm.  I mean, otherwise, why?  Why do it?

Smitty:  Yeah, exactly, I like that.  Yeah, why do it if you’re not going to really do it in a way that everyone can feel it and benefit from it and really digest it, yeah.

JC:  Mm-hmm.

Smitty:  I think you’re right.  Well, thank you for that.  I appreciate that.

JC:  Well, it’s true.  I know a lot of musicians will vouch for that.  It’s so obvious when you do interviews.  Not that you don’t, you know, wanna jot things down that come across your mind, not that at all, but that…You know what I mean, like that whole set of stock questions. That no matter who you’re talking to about what kind of music, you just ask the same stuff.

Smitty:  Oh yeah.

JC:  You don’t do that.

Smitty:  No, I couldn’t.

JC:  No, you couldn’t.  But, you know, it happens.

Smitty:  Yeah, and again it’s variety in interviewers, variety in things that we see in the world.  There’s just such a variety of ways of doing things and, for example, the variety in your sound and the way you make music versus another guitarist.

JC:  Mm-hmm.

Smitty:  And we love your style.  (Both laughing.)

JC:  Well, that’s good.  I am glad about that.  I’ll make no bones about that.  I’m thrilled.

Smitty:  Oh yeah.  When I was listening to the record, I said to myself, “This is a nice diverse record.”  It has so many guitars, I couldn’t wait to talk about the strings and everything. Because you could hear all of this great music and it wasn’t this same salad being tossed over and over and over. But it was something new and fresh every time out with each track and that’s what I loved about it, and it was so personal.  I loved it.  I still love it.

JC:  I’m thrilled, Smitty, and you were right when you said that “You must’ve had some big fat strings.”  Even if I used the same guitar, we found ourselves, like, “Well, hey, let’s throw another gauge set of strings on this.”  Even the gauges of strings are constantly changing. And I hadn’t done that on other guitars before.  It was kind of like, well, here’s my axe and I always like to play a little bit of acoustic guitar, nylon string guitar, but on this one also we played two different steel string acoustic guitars. So we kinda ran the gamut, but you were right when you heard the string difference, the caliber difference, and that’s very true. We did that. I mean, that’s a good ear.

Smitty:  Yes, and whether the listener knows that or not, they’re gonna feel that great fresh vibe every time out for each track.  I think they’re gonna feel that and embrace it, I really do, and I did immediately.

JC:  I hope so, I hope so.

Smitty:  I’ve been wanting to ask you something:  At some point I remember reading somewhere that you talked about….how do I say this?  (Laughs.)

JC:  It’s all right.  Let ‘er rip.  It’s the Smitty Show.