Chris Smither in concert

THERE ARE such things as the cosmic blues. Janis Joplin once recorded a song by that name — she spelled it kosmik. But Chris Smither lives them.

The wonderful songwriter and guitarist is on his way to Portstewart for a show at Flowerfield Arts Centre as guest of the Real Music Club on Wednesday November 13.

Smither played Cromore Halt back in the Music Station days and provided one of the most memorable gigs of their roster. Now he’s back in town – and tickets for the show will be priced at £18, which will include a complimentary glass of wine or fruit juice at the interval. Watch this space for details of ticket availability closer to the time.

Smither’s cosmic blues are on full display in his most recent album, Hundred Dollar Valentine, a brilliant amalgam made of equal parts past, present and future. It is music that traces its roots back deep into tradition, anchors its rhythms and textures in today, and reaches forward into the future.

And he does it all with six strings, an insistent, understated groove and a sly wink — letting you know that we may all enter and leave this world alone, but that don’t mean we can’t have a good time while we’re here. Hundred Dollar Valentine, Smither’s 12th studio disc, sports the unmistakable sound he’s made his trademark: fingerpicked acoustic guitar and evocative sonic textures meshed with spare, brilliant songs, delivered in a bone-wise, hard-won voice.

From his early days as the hot New Orleans transplant in the Boston folk scene, through his wilderness years, to his re-emergence in the 1990s as one of America’s most distinctive acoustic performers, Chris Smither has always been his own man.

He has zigged when others have zagged, eschewing sophisticated studio tricks and staying true to his musical vision, surrounding himself with kindred spirits ranging from Bonnie Raitt and the late Stephen Bruton to the next-generation kindred spirits with whom he works today.

It’s easy to see that Smither’s primary touchstone is acoustic blues, once describing his guitar style as “one third Lightnin’ Hopkins, one third Mississippi John Hurt and one-third me.” While ‘blues’ can evoke images of beer-sodden bar bands cranking out three sets a night wondering why one’s baby left them, Smither reaches back to the primordial longing and infinite loneliness held within the form.

While this is Smither’s twelfth studio album, this is his first-ever outing comprised entirely of self-penned songs. He’s always favored the cream of songwriters, such as Dylan, Mark Knopfler and Chuck Berry, mixed with classics from the blues canon, but this time, the credits read all-Smither. “Actually,” he laughs, “there are two covers on the record; but it’s me covering myself.”

While it is no surprise that several of his songs have become virtual standards, it is ironic that the assuredly masculine Smither has found favor almost exclusively with female singers: “Love You (Me) Like a Man” has been recorded countless times, with the best known versions by Bonnie Raitt and Diana Krall, “Slow Surprise” by Emmylou Harris and “I Feel the Same” by Raitt, Candi Staton and Esther Phillips among others.