Stick, Brick & Mortar marks Smithfield Fair’s 28th album of a 40-year career as a family band that started with Charmer in 1973 and its current name, changed in ’89, when it pursued trad-style Scottish music for 14 years. Though the Baton Rouge-based trio still occasionally performs Scottish music, a decade ago it returned to the Charmer-styled, hope-filled folk music while retaining the Smithfield Fair name. This baker’s dozen worth of tracks couldn’t be a truer return-to-roots affair with practically every tune being inspired by road trips along Highway 71 between Krotz Springs and Alexandria. There are tales about the old swing dancehall (“Blue Moon Café”) and nomadic con men (“Not What It Seems”) as well as impressionistic sketches like the snappy “Sweet Sugar Cane” and the all-too-brief instrumental title track, a reference to simple countryside churches.

A theme of memories also prevails. The tender ballad “I Remember You,” sung beautifully by Dudley-Brian Smith, is about how death brings people together. Though the mid–tempo, mellow-ish arrangements allow Dudley-Brian and Bob Smith’s blood harmonies to stretch, soar and feel the emotion, they oftentimes are topped by Jan’s haunting vocals (“A Second Cup”). On two tracks, she astounds with subtle cascading chords on her piano-note accordion.
Smithfield Fair isn’t about being stars and virtuosos but making beautiful music together as a group of ego-less, team-oriented devotees, perhaps the underlying secret to its longevity.