Smith & Myers EP review

There’s no doubt Shinedown have become one of the dominant forces in today’s rock world. Some of their songs will go down in history as some of the most anthemic tracks ever recorded. There’s a softer side to them too, though and we see that in the acoustic EP released by frontman Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers. Simply titled Smith & Myers, the short EP features acoustic renditions of some of the most well-known songs in recent rock history- “London Calling” by The Clash, “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding, “She Talks to Angels” by The Black Crowes, “Runaway Train” by Soul Asylum, “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica and “Blue on Black” by Kenny Wayne Shepard. Each song features an introduction by Smith letting the listener know the title and original artist of the song before going into a stunning rendition of each one. There’s not one dull moment in the peaceful-yet-rocking EP. Smith’s voice is solid as ever and will send chills down your spine as he hits the high notes and elevates his voice with power. Their cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” gives the original justice- which is hard to do. Many bands cover Metallica and almost all of them fail. Not Smith and Myers. Kenny Wayne Shepard would be proud of their revamp of “Blue on Black,” and he most likely is as he was in the room with them when they recorded, as Smith says in his intro to the song. Each song takes on an identity of its own and does the originals justice in every way. When they announced the project, many fans submitted the songs they wanted to hear done. It had to have been tough to narrow down which ones to do, but Smith and Myers did an impeccable job on the song choice and an even more beautiful job on the covers. Rating 9/10 -Reggie Edwards