There are blues albums that imitate the tradition, and there are blues albums that live inside it. Could Have Found Grace, the latest from Irish singer, songwriter and harmonica player Paddy Smith, is firmly the second kind. Now out on Tribeca Records, it is a lean, hard-hitting record that clocks in at just over half an hour and does not waste a single second of it. This is the sound of a man who has lived every word he sings.
Smith is no newcomer. A fixture of the Irish blues scene for decades, he made his recording debut with Let Those Blues In in 2013 and followed it with The Devil’s Backyard in 2023. Could Have Found Grace is his most personal and most complete statement yet, eight tracks built around hardship, resilience and redemption.
The album owes much of its fire to the way it was made. Smith and guitarist Danny Tobin of The Business Blues Band worked through the songs line by line and chord by chord over three intense days at Hellfire Studios in Dublin, and producer Ivan Jackman keeps that immediacy intact. Nothing sounds overworked. The songs feel caught in the heat of the moment, which is exactly where the blues belongs.
Then there is the band, and what a band it is. Aongus Ralston of The Waterboys holds down the bass, Jason Duffy of The Corrs drives the drums, and James Delaney, whose keyboards have backed Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher and Chuck Berry, adds color and depth. These are players who understand that the job in a blues band is to serve the song, and they do it with muscle and restraint in equal measure. At the center of it all sits Smith’s harmonica, the instrument he has carried through decades of change, and a voice that sounds weathered in the best possible way.
“Still Standing Tall” is the album’s spine, a song of defiance in which Smith shrugs off the names he has been called and plants himself at the crossroads of his own life, determined to do his best on his own terms. “You Don’t Know Me” digs deeper, reminding the listener that knowing someone’s good times and bad, their hurt and their shame, is not the same as knowing the whole of who they are. It is one of the most quietly powerful lyrics on the record.
Tobin gets his moment in the spotlight on “Stratology,” a short, punchy instrumental that shows off exactly why Smith built the album around him. The record’s lone cover, Elmore James’ immortal “Shake Your Money Maker,” is a tip of the hat to one of the masters, and Smith treats it with the affection of a lifelong disciple rather than the caution of a tourist. Elsewhere, “One Dollar Beer,” “Ain’t Got Nobody” and “Hard Luck Blues” keep the barroom lights burning.
But it is the closing title track that stays with you. “Could Have Found Grace” arrives with a gentle swing that belies its weight. Smith sings of traveling the world and sleeping soundly at night, only to wake in tears because peace has never quite found him. He has spoken openly about what the song means to him, reflecting on his hard-drinking years and, above all, on the loss of his daughter, Ciara. Knowing that, the song becomes almost unbearably moving. It is a lament, a confession and a prayer all at once, and it is the finest thing on the album.
Could Have Found Grace is proof that the blues remain a living, breathing language, and that in the right hands they can still speak to the deepest parts of a human life. Paddy Smith has made a record of honesty, grit and heart, and he has made it with a band worthy of the songs. Blues lovers who have not yet discovered him should start right here.
Could Have Found Grace is streaming worldwide now via Tribeca Records at found.ee/paddysmith_couldhavefoundgrace-1
