1 Kicking' This Stone
2 Thomas Francis
3 Iris Blue
4 Don't Put Me in a Box
5 Early - Johnsmith, Brown, Dave
6 Come Some Autumn Day
7 Drive
8 Friend of the Coyote
9 Survivors
10 Monkey in Me
11 Work in Progress
12 Tome to Go Home
13 There Are Also Musicians

From Amazon.com

Kickin this Stone

 Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: Wonderful collection of poignant songs. Johnsmith's voice is crisp. His daughter's harmonies on some of the songs adds another dimention to his music.

A life Kickin' this Stone

 Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: I heard Johnsmith talk on a radio interview about his life kickin' a stone around New England and Ireland and about making this CD. I am glad I went out and bought it. His lyrics and voice are just right.

Introspective, autobiographical, but honest lyrics: worthy of reflection

 Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: I heard Johnsmith for the first time at a small festival on Orcas Island, Washington State, during the summer of 2005. His performance featured many songs from this album.

John's music could be classified as a blend of folk and country, with a tip of the hat to his Irish heritage.

Perhaps the strongest song is the title cut, which has a slow acoustic rock groove in a minor key. The last verse sums it up:

Kickin' this stone down this long highway,
All across the countless miles from the cradle to the grave,
Past all my mistakes with all their guilt and shame,
Through the gentle rain of tears sweet forgiveness came.

Much of this CD is autobiographical and introspective. This might sound uninteresting, except that in my case, I found myself reflecting on my own life through these well-crafted verses.

The main reason I bought this album was for the song, "Iris Blue." Although it was written as a love song for his wife on their anniversary, it stresses that "it ain't been all roses." Anyone who's been married a while will likely relate to these sentiments (anyone married to a musician, maybe even more so).

The other song that I didn't hear in concert, but that got my attention on this recording is "Drive." The opening line states:

I'm gonna take my heart out on a drive,
We've gotten way too far out of touch this time...

Musically, this recording falls in the tradition of Chris Hillman, Paul Overstreet and other folk/country singer/songwriters. It's good stuff, but for me, it's the lyrics, the pictures they paint and the stories they tell, that does it for me.