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THE FREE LANCE-STAR
Writer's block is not a problem for Lindsay Smith, who plays Orbit's in Fredericksburg on Sunday afternoon.
The former folk artist is in the process of reinventing herself as a pop-rock performer. That should not be difficult, given her free-wheeling approach to the creative process.
Smith, who was born and raised in Fredericksburg, said she has been making up songs for as long as she can remember. But she didn't call herself a songwriter until she attended the Young Writers Workshop at the University of Virginia about a decade ago.
"The thing I learned there is that you get in trouble by waiting for ideas to come to you," the 29-year-old said this week in a telephone interview from Atlanta. So she writes things down even if they seem mundane, and sometimes good songs come from those little notes to herself.
An example is her song "My Mother is a Christian," which was inspired by a snapshot Smith's mother sent from a religious retreat.
My mother is a Christian with rainbows in her eyes/Her second love is fiction; you could say she's into lies/But the truth is she loves poetry; the truth is she loves me/And the truth is she just loves the way she wants the world to be
"It was just a writing exercise," Smith said about "My Mother is a Christian," but it's turned into a fan favorite in Atlanta coffeehouses and pubs.
The 1991 James Monroe High School graduate makes a rare Fredericksburg appearance from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Orbit's. It's an all-ages show.
Smith, a graduate of Emory University, lives in Atlanta, where she is pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter.
Her debut CD is "Tales from the Fruitbat Vat," which is in an alternative folk vein, and is available online at CDStreet.com and CDBaby .com.
Smith has been featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
Creative Loafing magazine said of her work: "Smith dresses up her pretty poetry in folk rock, heavy emphasis on folk. Smith's music is carefully crafted, heartfelt and without ego."
Smith herself said that her next album will be more in a pop-rock vein, and that it will take advantage of the networking she's done with musicians in Atlanta the last couple of years. Her next effort, which does not yet have a release date, will have more of a full-band sound.
"I've made a lot of very talented friends here who are ready to help me," Smith said.