Album Notes

"This CD is a small selection of my early attempts at recording. With equipment ranging from 2 track "sound-on-sound" to 24 track digital and a lot of 4 track reel to reel and cassettes in between. I hope you find the songs transcend the imperfections both mechanical and instrumental." Glenwood Smith (excerpt from the liner notes on the CD Rough Wood)

Although Rough Wood isn't a studio released production it is no less of an illustration of Glenwood Smith's songwriting skillfulness.
On the contrary, this CD underscores this fact!
With 11 songs made up mostly of live basement recordings with some home studio experiments, Rough Wood shows Smith's creativity throughout many musical genres: rock, jazz, country, gospel, folk and more. And also highlights his insight and lyrical abilities with mental imagery, folklore fantasy, psychedelic chants and a simple plea for peace which could be an international anthem.
"A good song is timeless!" And Rough Wood is exemplary of Smith's expertise as a writer of good songs. His songs aren't bound by age or fads, but are driven by a desire to capture what he hears within and create music and words that can please, entertain, move and be appreciated by any audience, of any generation, of any era.
Rough Wood is the only GSB project with not just one, but three instrumental tracks. Smith's insistence on the GSB being "music with a message" is the only reason more of his repertoire of hundreds of instrumental compositions haven't been recorded.
Rough Wood features a track from Smith's 1st venture into a studio on "Live In Peace." However, unhappiness with production, direction and spiraling costs caused this project to be abandoned incompleted.
Rough Wood also features a rare recording of one of the 1st live incarnations of the GSB, the band Dreams, on the rock-n-roll favorite "Seven Days A Week". Sadly, out of two years of live performance of some of Smith's best rock compositions, this song is one of the only Dreams' recordings to exist outside of video.
Rough Wood is a seldom seen view into the musical world of the GSB, and regardless of this CD's "bootleg" quality, the songs and musicianship on this recording make it a true treasure to any true GSB fan.


"Thanks to everyone who has been an intricate part of this dream, including you. Thanks for listening!" Glenwood Smith