John Smith was out on the road in Australia when he was forced to cut short his tour and head home to Brighton. After filling some of the downtime with a few online performances he decided to release a new album: Live in Chester, recorded at the final performance of his 2019 UK tour in Chester, England on Sunday, the 3rd of November — “The 117th gig of 2019.  The 1,620th of my life,” he says. On that gig he played his main touring acoustic, a Brazilian rosewood and spruce Fylde Alexander (which you’ve probably seen him playing in our office, if you haven’t caught him on the road) and a 1962 Kay Stratone that he’s taking care of for Joe Henry. For this exclusive performance from his music room, however, John is playing his “big old Falstaff, Indian [rosewood] and spruce.”

Live in Chester will be available for purchase via John’s website, and on streaming platforms. Look for a feature on John in the Fretboard Journal soon.

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