Here we continue our conversation with Daniel Smith, also known as Danielson, an independent musician and businessman based in rural New Jersey who’s done much to foster creativity and community for Christian performers through his record label, Sounds Familyre.  Smith has just released his first album in five years, Best of Gloucester County, which you can order here or from your favorite online retailer.

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Before we get back into the interview, I’ve got some thoughts about the record itself, which I’ve listened to quite a few times before its release.  As noted in the last portion of our conversation, this has been a transitional record for Danielson in many ways.  In addition to reassembling a team of supporting players, the band is standing in the shadow of 2006’s imposing concept album Ships.  Rather than try to escalate the sound into more “epic” territory, which would quickly degenerate into self-parody, Danielson scales things back and gets about as back-to-basics as he can.  Since he’s working with a smaller sonic palette that doesn’t change much from song to song, the album has a jammier feel; it takes me back to the 2001 Danielson Famile masterwork Fetch the Compass Kids.

Though there’s still some of the heady, theological musing that made up the majority of Ships, Gloucester healthily revives the overt humor of past Danielson days.  “Lil Norge” is a bouncy ball of pure fun co-starring Swedish pop singer Jens Lekman, drawing good-hearted laughs out of culture clashes between Swedes, Norwegians, and Americans, and the aforementioned “People’s Partay” basks in its small-town idiosyncrasies with clever couplets and wordplay.  It’s a light-hearted song about learning that all you need for celebration is other people, God’s most precious creation, and discovering the joy of belonging to a loving community.

The lighter moments are complimented by heavier rock, which, while less aggressive in their production than Ships, continue the perennial Danielson vibe of cosmic rebellion.  By emphasizing purity, humility, and faithfulness, the music is more subversive than any ho-hum controversy-mongering in the pop music world.  Though there are some detours into ambling soundscapes such as “Olympic Portions” and “Hovering Above That Hill,” each song eventually finds its way to a satisfying pop-rock hook or lyric that sticks with you through your day.

Best of Gloucester County may be seen as a one-off or “lesser” Danielson work by some critics expecting another Ships, but this is a record reminding us that life isn’t just about busy peaks.  Rather than cling to immature desires for constant adventure and stimulation, our life experiences can be richest when we pay closer attention to our gauche and unfashionable immediate surroundings.  And with that rambling out of the way, let’s return to the words of our featured artist:

Instead of jumping around from contributor to contributor on each new song, the album has a primary lineup, like back in the day when it was the Famile.  How did you bring together all your supporting players?

Well, it’s been a couple years in this time of figuring out, “Well, who’s my band now?”  I just started to ask around and to meet and start rehearsals with some various players who were recommended to me or people that I’ve worked with in the past.  And we’ve had various shows on and off throughout these past couple years, where we’d go to L.A. for two shows or got to Spain, just do different short weekend trips, and we did a short tour for the Trying Hartz release a couple years ago.

So we kind of used all these shows and trips to get to know each other musically, and a band formed out of that—just playing live, being on the road together.  I just love playing with these guys, and so it was just very natural, from everything clicking and getting to know each other, when it came time to record, everybody was in place.  It was really awesome, but it did take that amount of time.  It wasn’t the kind of thing where players that I’ve never played with just show up to the studio.  We had a couple years of getting to know each other musically first.

And some of them you had already known—with Sufjan Stevens, obviously, there’s much recorded about your guys’ work together, and Josh Stamper works for Sounds Familyre, so were there a few people you were meeting for the first time?

Well, a couple years ago, my friend Brian McTear, who’s a producer in Philadelphia—I’ve worked with him quite a bit.  He helped make Ships; that’s how I met him, actually, and we’ve gotten to know each other better and better since, and he introduced me to Patrick Berkery who’s been a drummer in the Philadelphia area for years, and we just hit it off.  And then Evan, I got to meet him—he actually filled in on some Ships tours, so I’ve been working with him for a while and met through Vito and Monique from The Welcome Wagon.  He’s an amazing player and composer as well.  And then my friend Andy, I’ve known for some years now.  He’s local around here—or, rather, lives around here, but he’s actually from England.  And so, everything’s settled in place, and we’re just trying not to over-think it.

Is the whole lineup going to tour with you, or will it be modified?

I sure hope so; I mean, Sufjan won’t be making it.  But in terms of the rest of the players, we’re trying our best to make sure that it’s as close to that lineup as possible.

How did you connect with the guests on the album? It seems, between getting Jens Lekman to guest, who’s Swedish, and signing the new Sounds Familyre band I Was a King, and I believe your wife is from Sweden, it seems like you’ve got a lot of connections out there.

Well, my wife is actually from Norway.  And I Was a King is from Norway. [Interviewer kicks self repeatedly.] And the connection with Jens Lekman was—years ago, I was on tour, and we played a show in Sweden.  And a friend of mine from Secretly Canadian said, “Hey, there’s this guy named Jens Lekman who’s opening up for you; see what you think.”  And it was great; he was just up there by himself with a mini-disc player; I just loved his music, it was awesome.  So I met him briefly there and then met him again some years ago at the Pitchfork festival when we were playing through there.

But my wife Elin and I just had this idea for years to have this kind of love song between a Swedish boy and a Norwegian girl, and then eventually she moves to America and meets me, and he was just so perfect. We just love his voice, and he’s got a great sense of humor, and he agreed to do it.  We’ve been talking about it for quite a few years, but it finally happened, and it just fit perfectly on this record.

Daniel and wife Elin

Can’t wait to hear it.  One other thing, with the actual distribution of this album, what’s behind the decision to go with the Sounds Familyre label rather than Secretly Canadian this time around?

Well, first of all, the Secretly Canadian guys are just fantastic and so supportive and amazing.  But I think it’s just a  new season for us; it’s always felt a little strange that we asked friends of mine to be on my label, but I wouldn’t be on it.  [laughs] But for Elin and I, there was very much this feeling that it’s time to put all our chips into the vision, because the Sound Familyre label is a vision of community and friends and art all kind of wrapped in one, and the Tri-Danielson vinyl was the very first release years ago, and it’s just time now to put all of our focus into that vision, including our own music.

I usually don’t try to do anything; that’s an important point for me.  I would say, more and more, it’s about trying less and just trusting my gut—trying to decrease the amount of time it takes to make a record and really trying to decrease the time that my brain can start coming in and start over-analyzing and questioning myself.  So really, just trying to keep things as immediate as possible.  I’ve always tried to do that, and I’ve just continued to try more and more to stay out of the way in that sense, and this record—there was a lot of waiting and this not knowing what’s next, and all of a sudden, it happened, and that’s was really exciting.

Growing up, the model for Christian musicians, and correct me if I’m wrong, appears to have been limited to what your father [Lenny Smith, who is an accomplished songwriter suitable for this series as well] was doing, writing praise and worship songs. But it’s obvious that the Danielson project in all its forms is coming from a different place.  Can you describe, for the people who are new to your music, what approach you’ve taken to writing Christ-centered music?

Well, it’s not even that deliberate.  You know, I’m a Christian, and my everyday life is based on hearing God’s voice and trying to do the few things that he wants me to do today, whatever they may be.  And through that doing, hopefully I’m learning how to love and how to be like Him—allowing the Christ in me to come through; “As I decrease, He increases.”  So in that lifestyle, whatever I’m singing about—well, you know, I hardly ever say say “Jesus” or “God” or anything like that, because I’m not preaching.  My lyrics and my words are just reflections of the day-to-day spiritual journey.  And that’s why I don’t consider it Christian music, ‘cause I don’t have an agenda; I’m not selling anything.  I’m just sharing my life and just trying to be as honest and real from that place as I can.  And, to me, that’s what an artist should do; an artist should just be true to who they are and who their being is every day.

Yeah, I guess once you introduce a utilitarian element to it, it kinda destroys the artistry, then.

I also don’t really have anything to say about what other people do, because I’m not here to judge anyone else, but I just speak from what I feel comfortable about being connected with and what I don’t feel comfortable being connected with.

And that is why the man is the real deal; the fruit of the Spirit is strong with this one.  Big Hollywood and I are very thankful for his time.  As one final note, be sure to check out the tour dates for his upcoming concerts.  You may just catch me at either the Lancaster or Pittsburgh shows.  Or both.

One of the best-kept secrets about the Church is that Christians have often been pioneers and giants in the arts.  You certainly wouldn’t know that from what’s peddled as “Christian” music, that incestuous sub-genre known as CCM (contemporary Christian music) that embodies all the excess of the Nashville-based music industry.  Vain, kitschy, sappy, vapid, and overproduced, it’s an insult for us to offer such tripe in our worship instead of impassioned, finely crafted art.

Over the next few months, Big Hollywood will be highlighting the work of Christian musicians who buck this trend, who don’t use their music’s subject matter as an excuse for sucking but push boundaries for themselves and their listeners.  I’m personally ecstatic that our first contact is Daniel Smith, the founder and leader of the New Jersey-based music project named “Danielson” which has gone through many variations over the years, the first and most search engine optimized being the Danielson Famile.

Starting as a senior project at Rutgers University, the Danielson Famile was an experimental folk-rock outfit that consisted of Daniel Smith and his four siblings, some of whom were still in their teens.  Focusing on the marvelous fact that God has adopted him as a son, Daniel communicated his childlike faith through yelping, falsetto vocals, instruments like xylophones that sound like they’re being played by an out-of-control nursery, and unpredictable song structures.  As a fan, the first album A Prayer for Every Hour, I’ll admit, is off-putting and hard to sit through, but it was miraculously picked up by Tooth and Nail Records, which was then primarily known for releasing Christian punk music, allowing the Famile to tour and build up buzz in the indie world.  The rest is history, well documented in a great film from a few years back.

Over the past decade-plus, Danielson has gained and lost members as siblings moved on to other endeavors, and Daniel himself has settled into a different mode of writing as he’s built up his own family, started a record label, and come to appreciate a more provincial place in this world.  He’s gone from freak-folk ringleader to the frontman of one of the most slyly subversive pop-rock groups around, weaving layered Biblical allusions into poetic lyrics that can take Rubik’s-level effort to unravel.  His voice has given up on its squeakier octaves, and his melodies, while still unpredictable, have grown more accessible.  It’s a perfect time for anyone who’s unfamiliar with Danielson to hop on board and work their way back through his catalog of work.

Daniel was gracious enough to answer some questions about his new album Best of Gloucester County, which is hitting shelves almost five years since his latest (much lauded) release, Ships– an eternity in music years, but as you’ll see below, for good reason.   You can order the album directly from his label, Sounds Familyre, and those who purchase the vinyl LP will receive a digital copy of the album.  Below is the first single for Gloucester, a song called “Grow Up,” followed by part 1 of our exclusive interview.

There’s always been a strong visual element to the Danielson project, a lot of different media are put into it to help communicate the music’s message.  In the video for “Grow Up” you’ve still got the nautical uniforms from the Ships days, and there’s this new imagery with those flags with eyes on them, and they fly around and form a unit like the Trinity.  What kind of allusion are you making through that?

Well, that’s a good question. The theme of the record, Best of Gloucester County, started out, at least, as this idea of celebrating coming back home to my childhood land.  It’s a rural place in south Jersey that, originally, I couldn’t wait to get out of and move on to the big city—you know, find good culture and whatnot. So it’s about coming back here and finding this to be my home and having a family here.  Once I got past what it wasn’t and started to get into what it is, with farmland and fields and trees, I was able to start celebrating it—the nature, the peace, all those things it has to offer.

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The image of the eye—in the fall around here, farmers will put up these balloons with these eyes on them, kind of like scarecrows, to scare away the birds.  So I adopted the image of these balloons with these kind of menacing eyes on them and applied it to these flags.  This kind of triangular flag is an image I’ve been using for a while.  I started to put these flags in the fields and these eyes on various  other things as well.  It hints to this idea of the “all-seeing eye”—the Spirit of God being present in all things.

And there’s also some motifs with farm equipment, grass-cutting, both in the video for “Grow Up” and on the album cover.  The blurb about the album written by Rick Moody describes a theme of the album as “the locally grown opus.”  What is the message you’re trying to send about what’s unique about Gloucester County, about identifying with a particular place in this world?

Well, I use that as an example of, like I was saying, growing up in a place that, at the time, was very un-romantic.  I wanted to live in Philadelphia, New York City, ‘cause that’s where the culture that I was feeding off of—music, mainly—was coming from.  It was hard for me to get excited for a place that I was disconnected from culturally growing up, and I was longing for something else.

So as you grow older, you go away and satisfy those desires for traveling, exploring, and getting your culture elsewhere, and then there’s a point where you realize there were great things happening around you but you didn’t notice them.  I remember going away to college and then coming back on the weekends every once in a while and seeing things almost for the first time.  With nature, everything seemed so green, whereas growing up it just seemed so gray.  So the album’s talking about those kind of things, and just having fun with the idea where we travel around Europe and America playing our music, yet no one around here has a clue who we are, so it’s kind of fun.

Yeah, and it’s almost like you’re bringing the culture there rather than kind of abandoning the place and going somewhere else where there is culture. You’re putting your own stamp on the area.

I hope so.  I don’t know if I would claim that for myself, but I do feel like if I was living in New York City, I’d be so distracted by all the great things happening.  If I’m around here, if I want culture, I just have to go make something.

What other kinds of props and costumes can we expect to see on tour?

Not quite sure.  The uniforms that we wear now—the service uniforms—they’re here to stay.  They’re uniforms that I like because they’re just kind of the common denominator of the music, which is all about providing a service on stage.  We’re up there sharing these songs and working up there and trying to get everyone to join in.  So, it’s always a struggle when you’re introducing visual elements on stage that it could start to get too theatrical.  I never felt comfortable with theatrics, but I do love visual elements—more when it’s symbolic and it supports and works alongside the music.  I never want images to be distracting from the music itself; that’s the most important part.

So, yeah, the uniforms are gonna continue to evolve with more patches and more imagery like that, but I’m not gonna be up there in another tree or anything like that.  I’m starting to plan some backdrops and things like that, but again, it’s always a fine line between theatrics and visual imagery that supports the music.

Yeah, and there’s kind of a theological element to that there, where the Protestant church hasn’t had much in the way of visual tradition in their worship.  Catholics have icons, but because of the whole iconoclasm movement, Protestants haven’t had too much in the way of visuals in art, so I can understand that tension between wanting to communicate visually, but not wanting to cross over into idolatry, as it’s often called.

Yeah, I’m not so much worried about idolatry; for me, growing up as a Protestant, I wished we had a nice building instead of the YMCA.  So that probably had something to do with it.  I remember being in churches where there were no visual distractions, and I feel that that’s too reactionary.  Stained glass windows and beautiful buildings are a wonderful thing, in my opinion.  So I grew up in a place where that pendulum swung too far the other way, whereas I think there should be balance in everything. I’ll walk into a beautiful cathedral and I literally feel a peace just from looking around, and that’s a wonderful thing.

And in the writing process—obviously, it took a while.  You polished off Ships, which was this big, broad, and highly-praised album—and then, we’ve been waiting. Just a slow drip of new Danielson material over the past 5 years– what kind of hurdles kept pushing back the release of Gloucester County?

Well, I think it had to do with a couple things.  One was just kind of regrouping after all that busyness that came from ships.  And it was personnel, because it was kind of the end of my brothers being able to take time out to record and tour, and my friends Chris and Ted as well.  And there’s a point where people have to focus on their own dreams, and there’s such limited time in all our schedules as we get older.  And, frankly, the music business is a terrible business to be in. [laughs]  And Danielson has always kind of been this way—a little heartbreaking—because there are family members always coming and going, depending on the different seasons.  And this time, it happened again in probably a bigger way than ever.  And it’s bittersweet, because you’re excited for family and friends who are pressing on to their vision in their life, and at the same time, there’s a loss there in terms of the community of musicians.

So, there’s been some building with that, and the other big part of it is that the songs just didn’t come.  They were just rendering and just waiting. More and more, I don’t press as hard as I used to.  And when I don’t press—and not that there’s not work involved, there’s a ton of work involved—there’s just a difference between when I’ve got the green light on the inside to go for it, things just come together.  But when there’s a resistance there, where I used to push and push and push with impatience and believing all those things like “you’ve gotta come out with a record right away or your career’s over” and all that nonsense– whereas I used to fall for that over and over and over again, now I just don’t believe it.  I believe that when the music comes naturally, that’s when it’s the good stuff.  So a lot of it just has to do with that kind of mysterious place of where this stuff comes from, and don’t force it.

So did the songs all come kind of recently, or was it piecemeal over the last few years?

Well, the way it always happens for me is I’m constantly collecting song bits and ideas and lyrics and concepts and just writing them on pieces of paper and recording them on the little Dictaphone—collecting, but not getting into the next step, which is actually going through and finding things that sound like they should be songs.  The collecting process is just part of my lifestyle but that next step of, “Okay, now let’s start analyzing and see what’s still alive,” it just wasn’t time for that until about a year and a half ago.

Aside from the band and writing your music, managing the label, Sounds Familyre, and producing records for all its artists, maintaining family life, and I think there’s still some carpentry going on, right?  How does that all come together without driving you totally insane?

Barely.  Yeah, that’s what I’m still trying to figure out, actually.  So, if you have any advice, I’ll take it.  I think it just seems like putting out fires left and right.  You know, things come up, and you’ve gotta do this and do that.  I’m still looking for a place where I can do it all without getting exhausted and freaking out, which is a real struggle.  But at the same time, they’re all projects and jobs and things I love doing.  I’m not sure yet; I’m still trying to figure out how to juggle all these things and not go crazy.

Stay tuned for part 2:  Danielson discusses his changing band lineup, self-distribution, and his approach to songwriting, plus a review of Best of Gloucester County.

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While the film delved into numerous issues, from bloated salaries to lack of oversight in spending, two of them were the most infuriating.  The first is the fact that the teachers’ union vehemently opposes any meaningful reform that it sees as a threat to its power.  While, as the film expresses, there are plenty of individual teachers who care about their students and put forth their best effort in the classroom, the NEA has become a bloated political organization that is interested only in protecting its power rather than in educating the students it pretends are its highest priority.  For instance, the NEA and its state chapters exert massive political influence over who is chosen to fill administrative posts that will negotiate contracts with them.  This enable them to keep policies in place such as the tenure system that manifests itself in a ridiculously unbelievable 99.97% teacher retention rate in New Jersey.  Watching Joyce Powell, head of the NJEA, try to spin her way around the facts presented to her is both laughable and maddening.  Until this mammoth self-serving organization can be dismantled, reforming public education will continue to be futile endeavor.

Equally vexing is the fact that New Jersey, like many states, continues to resist the successful introduction of voucher programs into its educational system.  While many charter schools such as North Star Academy and Hope Academy boasted better test scores than their public school equivalents, while spending less money, the Education Department of New Jersey approved only 1 of 22 applications to start new charter schools in the state.  Although there are many facts and figures that can be used to show why charter schools provide a superior education, the film made its most powerful argument by juxtaposing two pictures: one of mothers celebrating that their children now “have a chance” after they had won spots in the charter school lottery, and the other a heartbreaking visual of  a sobbing child who did not win that chance.  It is insane to think that we lack the political will to carry out such a simple solution, especially when there are so many who desire this change, and so many who are willing to implement it.

The political interests of the NEA, coupled with an educational bureaucracy that refuses to allow reform, enables this scenario to play out across our country again and again, as more and more students fall through the cracks of a severely corrupted school system.  It would seem obvious that the quality of our childrens’ educational experience would be our primary consideration when evaluating our educational system, but “The Cartel” unveils the corruption that allows our children to instead find themselves almost entirely ignored.  The film will begin playing in New York City and Los Angeles on April 16, and roll into other cities in the following weeks.  Check out the website for a detailed schedule of screenings and to find an action center where you can get more information on how to fight for the best possible education for your child.  If there is one thing we can all agree on, regardless of political background, our children deserve better.

Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – MTV is getting more pressure to cancel its “Jersey Shore” reality show.  The latest criticism comes from the New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus, which says the show promotes derogatory ethnic stereotypes and is “wildly offensive.”

In a letter sent Tuesday to the president of Viacom, MTV’s parent company, caucus chairman Joseph Vitale asks that the show be immediately taken off the air.

The state lawmakers also have asked advertisers to boycott the show, which focuses on eight tanned 20-somethings and their escapades in Seaside Heights, a popular New Jersey beach town.

Full story here.

For the past year I have been saying the current President is one of the biggest megalomaniacs in history.  And Tuesday night he proved it again.  While the state of New Jersey, which is one of the bluest, was falling and the State of Virginia was being swept by Republicans (which has not happened since Reconstruction), the President refused to acknowledge any of it mattered. I wonder if he was wearing his lucky tie. 

However, we all know who definitely was not:  Doug Hoffman.  This is the man who ran on the Conservative ticket in NY-23, a district in Upstate New York that has been Republican since the Civil War.  Well, in the immortal words of Jacques Clouseau, “Not Anymore!”  Doug Hoffman was defeated garnering only 46% of the vote.  The projected winner, the Democrat Bill Owens, garnered 49% and the liberal Republican who withdrew last week received 5%.  She proved to be the spoiler. 

I find this race in NY-23 to be very disturbing.  It is a race that garnered national attention when Sarah Palin, the Queen of the Far Right, decided to support the Conservative Candidate and not the Republican.  Before that, the race was hardly being looked at. NY-23 is a district which borders on Canada and Vermont.  It is more than 90% white and skews Republican by a margin of more than five percentage points.  The area has been Republican for as far as anyone can remember.  But, last night, it elected a Democrat.  Why? 

The Republican Party nominated Dede Scozzafava to run without a primary.  Ms. Scozzafava is one of the most liberal Republicans in the history of the Party.  She is not pro-life, supports same-sex marriage and has strong ties to Labor — positions which are opposed by the majority of the Party.  She does support the Bush tax cuts and is against Cap-and-Trade.  It was rumored during the election that she hinted she might caucus with the Democrats if elected. 

Obviously the nomination of Ms. Scozzafava was a big mistake.  By nominating her, the Party allowed a three way race to occur thereby guaranteeing a Democrat victory.  Of course, it did not help, that upon quitting the race five days ago, Ms. Scozzafava gave her support, not to the Conservative Hoffman, but to the Democrat Owens.  The Party should have run a primary before nominating Scozzafava or, at the least, seen the power of the conservative movement and nominated someone more in line with the mainstream Republican platform. 

But, that is not really what disturbs me about the race in NY-23.  What disturbs me is the ramification of what happened there to the rest of the country and to the 2010 election  The Republican Party seems to be splintering into two halves, the conservatives and the moderates.  The Conservatives are being supported by Ms. Palin and a large group of right-wing pundits.  They are represented by the Tea Party organizations and the States’ Rights Groups.  I am probably one of them. 

However, without the moderates; the center of the political spectrum, the Party will not regain control of the Federal Government.  There is simply not enough on the Far Right to support a majority anywhere in the country.  The moderates and independents win elections.  And, boy was that clear last night. 

All of the exit polling shows that McDonnell and Christie won because there was a major swing in the independent voter to the Republicans.  These swing voters stated they were against huge government spending, the failed stimulus package and were in fear for the future of their children.  The majority of these independents voted for Obama in the last election. 

We need them, these independents.  We must do whatever is necessary to maintain their support.  We cannot swing to the far right and expect to do anything in 2010.  If we do, there will be a lot of Democrats wearing their lucky ties.  If we continue to attract the moderates and independents as happened Tuesday, it will be a large group of Republicans wearing theirs.

On a rainy day last week in Long Branch, NJ, Bob Dylan, wearing a hood, was peering into a for-sale home when a neighbor called the police fearing he might be a burglar. Two young officers arrived on the scene and neither of them knew who Bob Dylan was. They asked for I.D. – he had none but explained he was a musician on tour with John Mellencamp and they were set to play at a nearby stadium in Lakewood. Without fuss or anger, Mr. Dylan was escorted back to his tour bus where he produced I.D.

That was that. End of incident.

The way CNN reported it made certain you’d never see the obvious correlation to the Professor Gates incident in Boston. How did they do this? With the headline, ”Bob Dylan a Complete Unknown in NJ Town,” which is a pretty vague headline and gives no indication police were even present.

The story is not that the officers were too young to know who Dylan was — it’s the fact that Dylan didn’t mind proving who he was. If we’re ever going to rise above race-baiting, news outlets have a duty to shine an even brighter light on decent behavior.

But CNN made sure you’d never know Dylan was the anti-Gates.