In 2013 I was looking to meet great musicians I could rehearse and record with in Little Rock. Surprisingly on Craigslist, I met an incredible musician named Rob Smith. In a short clip he posted I was really impressed and could tell he was a very skilled guitarist. We quickly met and began working together. So along with his friend Rob, who played bass, we did sets every Friday and Saturday as a way to rehearse.
In order to have a sample, we recorded a demo with 8 tracks. Each track was a cover of a classic song including “Stuck in the Middle” and “Hotel California”. One track in particular really stood out to me above the others.
BB King’s “Rock Me Baby” is a smooth blues tune that makes any crowd want to rock their hips. In our version the track rocks along with with a simple acoustic feel against my voice, but changes as the second and electric guitar begins to arrange itself around my acoustic guitar voicings. The way Rob was interpreting and playing the guitar, made the track sound so dynamic. Out of the 8 demo songs it was the only one I felt could be released as is, in the digital market.
Shortly thereafter, I moved out to California and Rob moved to Austin, Texas where he continued being a go to guitarist for in studio sessions. While in California I started working on the recording for my “Suspend” album. Martin Young, who was engineering my guitar and vocal tracks at his place in Ojai, asked about which utility player I would use because a great one would be needed to get the songs done right. I immediately thought of Rob and gave him a call. We bonded over our recent life changes since he also was going through a separation. This worked as the amp and fuel for both of us to give our all in the sessions. His work on the record really took the songs to a new level.
I will always applaud his talent and how dedicated he is to the craft (He was practicing 8 hours each day at the time I met him…that deserves a “woooo!”). Shout out to Rob for his work on our demo, especially “Rock Me Baby”, and the epic sounds he added to the “Suspend” record.
To stream Mark David "Rock Me Baby" featuring Rob Smith on guitar click here
Mark David Suspend "the Ojai Storm" click here
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