| IF YOU GO |
| Debi Smith, featured guest vocalist with the National Men’s Chorus of Washington |
| Where: Providence Presbyterian Church, 9010 Little River Turnpike, Fairfax. |
| When: 4 p.m. Sunday |
| Info: $15 at the door, free for students; 202-244-7191; nationalmenschorus.org |
Washington’s own Debi Smith is the featured guest artist appearing with the National Men’s Chorus of Washington this week. Now in its 12th season, the chorus directed by Thomas Beveridge will present a program of Music at Christmastide. Along with Smith performing several of her original songs backed by the Kalea Vocal Trio, virtuoso pianist Thomas Pandolfi will also appear.
“I really enjoy Christmas music and am delighted to be working with the National Men’s Chorus,” Smith said. “I started out as a soprano singing in church, but after college I became interested in jazz and started developing my alto range. Mary Chapin Carpenter and I began performing locally about the same time, but when my sister Megan, who is five years younger, came home from college, we started touring together as the Smith Sisters. Now I’m coming back to my soprano voice.”
Smith is a master of many skills. She is a composer and recording artist whose songs have captured six ASCAP popular music awards and been recorded by such artists as Tom Paxton and Al Petteway. With five solo albums to her credit, she has stashed away many Wammies (Washington Area Music Awards). Her latest double-disc CD, “The Soprano” and “The Soprano Christmas,” highlights the upper register of her three-octave range. In contrast, pop fans around the country know her as one quarter of the Four Bitchin’ Babes, solo artists who write and perform their own witty songs and share others in glorious harmony. She has been heard often as both soloist and ensemble member on national radio and telecasts, among them “A Prairie Home Companion,” “All Things Considered,” PBS specials, CMT’s “New Country,” CBS “Sunday Morning” and “Good Morning America.”
Touring with the Babes has occupied a large chunk of Smith’s life since 1994. Next month they head for Florida and will be on the road until May, followed by the gigs at the shore during the summer. Because most of their shows are on weekends, she is able to spend much of each week back home in Falls Church with her husband and son, and parents just a few doors up the street..
Whether singing country, pop, folk or jazz, Smith receives raves for her solo appearances accompanying herself on guitar. She is also a master of the bodhran, an Irish hand drum, which she played on the main theme song in Ken Burns’ “The National Parks” PBS documentary. She loves the bodhran and integrates it with most of the songs she writes.
Writing is cathartic for her and a way to honor her family. She has penned songs about her son, who suffers from autism, and songs about her parents, such as “My Mother’s Hands” and “My Father Was a Quiet Man.”
“Performing them make me feel good,” she said. “Nothing pleases me more than having someone come up with tears in their eyes and tell me that my music has uplifted them. I hope people at Sunday’s concert will enjoy my songs and go away thinking that the experience has been meaningful.”
