Jonah Smith turns to fans to help finance CD, tour

Singer/songwriter Jonah Smith left his record label, Relix, in 2007, but he had a bunch of songs he wanted to record as a CD.

So he hooked up with friend and New York producer Malcolm Burn.

"(Malcolm) is a producer independently minded," Smith said during telephone interview from a stop in St. Louis. "And he doesn't really care about marketing or salability. The two of us could focus on doing what we wanted."

The CD, titled "Lights On," not only features Smith and his band but also some guest musicians as well.

"I wanted to use a lot of different musicians that I have worked with over the years and loved their playing," Smith said. "I started hearing different musicians in arrangements in my head."

Smith wanted Michael Leonhart to play horns on the album. He wanted Joan Osborne, drummer Aaron Comess and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Carrie Rodriguez as well.

"I wrote out horn charts for Michael, who was playing with Steely Dan at the Beacon (Theater), and he had two hours free before soundcheck."

Comess was featured on the CD's demo recordings, Smith said. "I wanted that sound on the record. So I brought him to play on a couple of tracks."

Getting Rodriguez, who sings on "I Know What You're Talking About," the last track on the album, was a little more of a challenge.

She was on tour and would be back in New York for only one day and couldn't make it to the studio, Smith said. "So I set her up in another studio in Brooklyn and set up an iChat."

Rodriguez recorded her part and sent the parts via iChat to Burn's studio.

One challenge of recording the album was finances. So, taking a cue from fellow independent recording artist Jill Sobule, Smith asked his fans for donations.

And the fans responded and donated the greens for him to record and finish the album.

"I stole the idea directly from (Jill)," he said with a laugh.

"I don't know if she came up with the idea, but she's the first person I read about doing it. And it worked tremendously for me."

It worked so well that Smith is utilizing the same idea to help fund his tour.