A couple of days ago, I mentioned the Mandy Smith Group.
Funny enough, the band makes an appearance in the Comical‘s entertainment section this weekend:
Mandy Smith doesn’t like to waste time.
The Mandy Smith Group, clockwise from top left, is Mandy Smith, guitar and vocals; Wynn Ann Chaney, drums; and Phil DeVille, bass.
The Houston native has released three albums since September 2003 and is already in the studio recording a fourth effort with guitarist and producer Phil DeVille and new drummer Wynn Ann Chaney.
While a self-titled album was first, Smith considers West Texas Sun, released earlier this year, her official debut. Coming Home, the follow-up, was written during a relaxing week in Galveston, and the album’s six sprightly tracks are a reflection of her band’s travels throughout the state. It was recorded in less than a day and unveiled on May 23.
“The thing for us as artists is that it seems like it takes a really long time to do stuff,” says Smith, munching on French bread and brie at Café Brasil. “Even six months, that’s like way too long. You have the energy with the music and the songwriting, and you’re excited. It shouldn’t really take that long, and (Phil) really has proved that with what we’ve turned out.”
Before music, Smith was in the “corporate world” and DeVille was an art dealer at the now-defunct October Gallery in the Heights. The pair met two years ago in Kemah, while playing with different bands. They clicked, and the Mandy Smith Group was born.
The whole thing is worth reading.
As I was looking at the photo of the current incarnation of the band, I noticed a familiar face (in addition to Smith). The drummer actually is a barista at the Starbuck’s I stop at on the way to work most mornings. Small world.