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J. D. Smith and the 3 Legged Dog
PRESS KIT ITEMS AND REVIEWS
J.D. Smith and the 3 Legged Dog will be playing at the Northwest Music Hot Club Friday night in Troy starting at 7:30 p.m. “It’s our most local show and draws a pretty good crowd,” said Smith, who started the band while living in the Yaak. “Expect it to be a little more wilder night - a little more dancy. I always threaten that we’re going to burn all the tables,” he added. Smith, originally from Michigan, cut his musical teeth in Boulder, CO in the 90s, hanging out with bands such as Leftover Salmon and Big Head Todd and the Monsters. He writes the songs, an Indie-style rock blended with Americana folk music, which, according to his website (www.the3leggeddog.com) explores rural life, broken dreams and the thirst for adventure. “A lot of the songs are alittle bit more like Leonard Skynard, Widespread Panic or Tom Petty,” Smith said. This will be the fourth time the band makes an appearance. I live in the Yaak and have for the last ten years - originallly from Michigan. Jeremy “JD” Smith - I am the founder of the band - with a couple of guys from the Yaak. As we grew use some Missoula band - a couple guys. i write the music and singer/songwriter and sing. Hays Daniel, another Yaak resident, plays lead guitar for the band, along with two guys from Missoula - their drummer and keyboard player. “Both are music majors,” said Smith. “One is in the University and the other is graduated - they’re the glue that makes it stick, combined with our rough and raukiss sound.” Smith said he got the name for the band when he lived in Portland. “I was down in Sellwood and a neighbor dog came busting into my place, it was a three legged dog - so happy and so resilient. it was kind of a good schtick for the band.” The band is gaining more momentum as a stage show rock band and has recorded two albums in two years - their latest called “Unstable.” Smith said they’re not a typical coffee house band - they like to drink after the show at the Home Bar. “We always go there with about 20% of the crowd and have a drink with Bruce and the bar afterwords,” he said. Also a contracter/carpenter, Smith said he goes back and forth, currently spending a lot of time emailing and myspacing because he won’t have a day to do it during the summer. “I’m pulling a little tour together right now and lining up gigs and festivals for the end of summer.” Smith said thanks to sites like Myspace, many people are able to bypass record labels and record their own music, book their own shows and communicate with other musicians directly. “There is a major rising in middle class musicians,” he said. “It’s a whole new insurgence of people who can make $20-30,000 a year and are making it.” Smith said a guest fiddle player will be at the show in Troy. “I am not afraid to run with different musicians,” he said. “For the coffee house, it’ll be a rich amount of texture with all kinds of sound.”
Hope Nealson
February 2008 - The Western News
Unstable
The sophomore effort from J. D. Smith and the Three Legged Dog is gritty, homely and raucous, making it the perfect depiction of the rough and tumble landscape of the band’s northwest Montana origins. Recorded over two weeks last February in a remote cabin near Troy, Unstable draws from myriad genres—rock, country, folk and bluegrass—and delivers a lyrical candor many artists strive for, but few actually reach. The themes are tried and true, ranging from heartbreak and loneliness to introspection and rural living, but the music&m dash;for better or worse—never outdoes the storytelling. On “Ain’t Got No Home,” Smith finds a heady balance between the alt-country outlawry of Steve Earle and pop-twinge of Robert Earl Keen. “Montana Nights” channels The Gourds and serves as the musical standout. With “Stuck in the Moment” and “All Over But the Crying,” Smith and company generically expand into country rock. While Smith’s lyrics portray the Montana scene with a certain amount of geographic sincerity, there’s still plenty of room musically for The Three Legged Dog to fully realize its dramatic potential. But in the meantime, the view here is just fine.
By: Jonathan Stumpf
Missoula Independent
Posted: 12/20/2007
Check out CD review of "Unstable" by Missoula Independent
We think it's what might happen if Robert Earl Keen met John Hiatt and played a gig or two in the Yaak's Dirty Shame Saloon. We also think this passage from the band's website probably sums up their style best: "Two hundred miles from any sizable city in a remote corner of northwest Montana is a place where the sound of an evolving music scene is starting to blossom. You could call it folk, rock or country, the sound reflects the mountain lifestyle and creates an honest and rugged feel. Until now, the emerging sound was witnessed only by a handful of weathered locals and a small herd of inquisitive horses."
-Local Music Sound Off
By Kirk Siegler, 12-06-05
"It's what might happen if Robert Earl Keen met John Hiatt and played a gig or two and the Yaak's Dirty Shame Saloon"
NEW WEST MISSOULA
"This band knows how to connect to it's audience on stage and in the studio!"
Josh Whitley, KRFP 92.5FM Moscow, ID
JD Smith and the 3 Legged Dog JD Smith and the 3 Legged Dog self-released If Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers hijacked Widespread Panic’s tour bus, swung by Skynyrd’s crib to pick up some guitar licks and camped out under the stars in the Gourds’ backyard, they’d wake up sounding a lot like JD Smith and The 3 Legged Dog. The group accurately describes itself as a “workingman’s band” and Jeremy Smith’s lyrics often cast a bemoaning glance at the specifics of his own daily grind. And that doesn’t mean lyrics wasted whining about carpal tunnel syndrome—the Montana native sings about the trials of chasing down runaway horses, long periods of time working far away from home and the risks of dealing with crooked border patrol agents. The album is well worth the gas Smith must have burned traveling between his hometown of Troy and Portland, Ore., where the record was made. Differing from Smith’s current live lineup, the recording session features saxophonist Joe Cunningham (Rubberneck, the Decemberists), members of Cross-Eyed Rosie (a Portland bluegrass staple) and a few handpicked folks from the apparently vibrant Yaak valley music scene. The guests help Smith create an authentic sound that’s true to their frontman’s blue-collar style.
(Caroline Keys)
-Independent Press
Whitefish night spot also hosts trio of bluegrass bands.
Life in the Yaak has been a blessing and a curse for singer/songwriter J.D. Smith of J.D. Smith and the 3 Legged Dog. “The isolation has incredibly helped with my songwriting, as being up here I can spend hours on the guitar,” he said. “But it hasn’t helped with actual live performances.” He’s made the effort, though, to get his music in the spotlight. Smith has to drive 4 1/2 hours to meet up with bandmates in Missoula, but his band has logged close to 30 shows in 2006. The group next plays at Flanagan’s Central Station in Whitefish on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Smith, a Michigan native, has put together what he calls an “all-star band” of musicians from Missoula and the Flathead Valley. He calls their sound “Americana, country rock” — along the lines of musicians such as Steve Earl, John Hiatt, Tom Petty and Neil Young. 3 Legged Dog shows, Smith said, often follow similar patterns. “We’ll play two or three originals, kind of hot and heavy rock, and then break down with a Johnny Cash song or a two-step,” he said. “It’s our signature thing — we’re always going to offer you 10 two-steps out of 30 songs in a night.” Smith’s current backup band is comprised of Matt Schumacher, a bass player also part of the popular Missoula band Swyl and touring with Global Funk; Kalispell’s Christian Gutierrez, a former Swyl drummer and graduate of the University of Montana music school; and Ryan Fadden of Missoula on lead guitar. Fadden also plays with Shane Clouse and Stomping Ground; Smith says his lead guitarist is “just phenomenol.” Smith, a carpenter by trade, recently released his first self-titled CD, recorded in Portland with top-notch studio musicians. The CD is described as “an Americana blend of rock and country going everywhere from grunge to bluegrass.” Smith plans on recording another more introspective CD later this year, and and he hopes the band’s travel range will increase to include markets such as Seattle, Salt Lake City and Portland."
- The Daily Interlake