These are hard times. We thought we'd take a break from all of it and make up a fun Christmas tune. We hope you like it. Dance to it. Cover it. 

This song is about a good old-fashioned country Christmas gathering. Potatoes, pie, grandparents, trains, sleigh rides.

Credits:

Performed by Bet Smith, Rob Currie, Andrew Currie, and Sarah Girdwood.

Recorded by Rob at Rob Currie Recording in Gravenhurst, Ontario.

Mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering

Written by Bet Smith and Rob Currie

Bet Smith - Vocals, acoustic guitar, sleigh bells

Rob Currie - Electric guitar, bass

Andrew Currie - Drums, percussion

Sarah Girdwood - Most excellent harmonies

Lyrics: 

Play those carols soft and low, stoke the fire make it glow
All our loved ones on their way, coming on that Christmas train

O’Mally’s Christmas Trees, I’m gonna take one home with me
Popcorn strung with Cranberries, wrapped around that evergreen
Gleaming, golden Christmas lights, gosh this place looks fine tonight
All our loved ones on their way, coming on that Christmas train

Riding fast now, through the prairies and down the shield
Coming on home, to make merry, I can hear that whistle blowing
Woooowoooooo

Biggest turkey we could find, all the fixin’s in a line
Granny’s cookies, aunty’s sweets, local taters, home-grown beets
Apples, pumpkins, by and by, I’m gonna bake them in a pie
All our loved ones on their way, coming on that Christmas train

Riding fast now, through the prairies and down the shield
Coming on home, to make merry, I can hear that whistle blowing
Woooowoooooo

Riding fast now, through the prairies and down the shield
Coming on home, to make merry, I can hear that whistle blowing
Woooowoooooo

Play those carols, soft and low, stoke the fire, make it glow
Snow over the countryside, perfect for a sleigh ride
Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Stu, aunties, uncles, cousins too
All our loved ones on their way, coming on that Christmas train

Riding fast now, through the prairies and down the shield
Coming on home, to make merry, I can hear that whistle blowing
Woooowoooooo

That Christmas Train

Lyrics: 

North Ontario, dead-end road
Just me and the wind and the songs we wrote
Got a bit of land I can call my own
I can build a little fire when the sun goes down

There’s a friendly cafe out on seventh line
Where if I need a little comfort I can pass some time
Tell my mamma that I’m happy here all alone
Truth is I’m still working on letting you go
Truth is I’m still working on letting you go

I can tell time is taking its toll
See the lines in my face feel it creak in my bones
I can swing my own hammer, I can chop my own wood
But I couldn’t make you love me like I thought I could

North Ontario, Lake of Bays
Seems like a good place to pass my days
Tell my daddy that I’m happy here all alone
Truth is I’m still working on letting you go
Truth is I’m still working on letting you go

I’m as still as the old white oak
You were the river and you warned me so
While I pretend I’m out here living off the land
Truth is I’m still working on letting you go

North Ontario, dead-end road
Just me and the wind and the songs we wrote
Tell my mamma that I’m happy here all alone
Truth is I’m still working on letting you go

North Ontario - Single

North Ontario

North Ontario (New Master Upload, 2020)

This is a song inspired by the kind of Christianity that fought to keep someone like Donald Trump in power, because that power trickles down into the hands of religious groups that seek to control the minds and bodies of others.  
During the Trump presidency in the United States, the worst bits of Christianity boiled to the surface. Racism, greed, oppression, and self-righteousness backed up by the bible became more perceptible than ever before in my lifetime. It bothered me. I came face-to-face with it during a trip over the border and when I got home, this song wrote itself. 
I've always had a hard time with religion. While I fully embrace culture and tradition, I see the more exaggerated versions of various religions do harm to individual people, communities, and countries. If we look back in time, we see so many unjustifiable deeds – war, massacres, and subjugations – vindicated by bible verse. And it continues today. What a shame.    


Vocals and Acoustic Guitar: Bet Smith
Electric Guitar: Rob Currie

Lyrics:

All the holy rollers off the highway with that direct line to God
Twitching and vibrating every Sunday and hell, I don’t even pray

Is this life just a trail? Are we being sized up for the great beyond?
Excuse me if I’m speaking out of turn but I think you’ve got it all wrong

You feel some greater power every time you say his name
And every day you live he is showing you the way
Well, Hallelujah just isn’t something I would say
But I’m alive anyway.  Ain’t I alive anyway?

You long to have some power over me and every single thing in your sights 
If you credit every choice to make to God there ain’t no-one gonna tell you it ain’t right

So he has blessed every move you ever made  he’s had his eye on you this whole time
Forget those bastards lying dead in the badlands; no righteous warrior ever lost his fight

You feel some greater power every time you pray
So when it comes to war why would God get in your way?
Hallelujah is not something I would say
But I’m alive anyway. Ain’t I alive anyway? 

You tell me I’ve been wasting my time,  singing songs and thinking thoughts about the earth
If I won’t raise my voice up to God, then what’s the point of all these silly words? 

I feel some greater power nearly every time I play
So when it comes to rock n’ roll, why would God get in my way? 
Hallelujah just isn’t something I would say
But I’m alive anyway. Ain’t I alive anyway?

Downer

Some Greater Power (Release Feb 2 2021)

This song began as a chorus to what might have become a very convoluted love song. I decided it had to be something else, something bigger. I re-wrote the song several times before I came up with the final version. 
For me, it's a song about economic injustice, greed, environmental destruction and the climate crisis. But the song remains open to interpretation – to mean something different to each listener. 
I recognize that I, as a white person living in a wealthy country, have benefited from a system that has oppressed others. My personal grievances and hurts are minor in comparison to everything else that is happening in the world. 
I offer this song with respect and in solidarity with all who experience discrimination, injustice, and oppression.


Bet Smith: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Keys
Rob Currie: Electric Guitar, Bass
Andrew Currie: Drums 


Lyrics:

I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you but
You say you ain’t done nothing wrong, you ain’t done nothing

You’ve been hanging flowers around your apartment
For so many years you don’t recall why you started
But now you can’t ignore the stench
Coming up through the floor

And you fear we’re gonna knock it down
Every rafter, every rotten board
So you keep planting roses hoping
We don’t notice

I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you but
You say you ain’t done nothing wrong, you ain’t done nothing

This is just the way that you were raised
A heavy hand and a deep faith
Everybody makes mistakes and you’re not
Sorry for anything

You only want what’s due to you
Your family earned the revenue
And when it came time, with pride you
Stepped into your father’s shoes

I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you but
You say you ain’t done nothing wrong, you ain’t done nothing

The untold truths of history are
Crashing down, but you don’t want to see it
Beneficiary, oh boy, did you get lucky

Won’t you give up some of that power?
Why don’t you give us some of that power? 

I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you but
You say you ain’t done nothing wrong, you ain’t done nothing

I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you, I want to forgive you but
You say you ain’t done nothing wrong, you ain’t done nothing

Forgive You (Release Jan 2 2021)

Bet Smith is a Canadian alternative folk singer-songwriter who weaves environmental and socio-political philosophy into rich, reflective compositions. With a voice that is gentle and familiar, Smith offers elegant melodies locked to lyrics that are paced and precise. 
Smith’s reverence for nature is ever-present in her writing. She attributes this to time spent homesteading on a small island in British Columbia. Far-removed from everyday conveniences like running water and electricity, Smith learned to find comfort in a give-and-take relationship with the land. Growing food, cooking over a fire, pulling water from the ground, waking up to see her breath hanging in the air on cold winter mornings; she learned to settle in with nature’s rhythms and embrace her dependence on the earth. 
There on the west coast, surrounded by a community deeply concerned for, and connected to nature, fear and anxiety for the future of the planet worked its way into Smith’s writing, along with earnest devotion to the natural world. 
During her time out west, Smith ventured out for short tours and festival appearances within British Columbia. Then in 2014, she returned home to Ontario and connected with Rob and Andrew Currie at their vintage music store and studio in Gravenhurst, Ontario. Smith and the Currie brothers teamed up to record what would eventually become two very different LPs: Tightropes & Loose Ends, a brooding experimental indie-roots record, and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, a mostly-upbeat alt/trad-country album. Peppered with guest appearances by some of Canada’s most beloved musicians, as well as friends and family, both albums earned considerable attention and acclaim within Canada, the United States and Europe. 
Bet Smith & The Currie Brothers, later joined on-stage and in-studio by friend and vocalist Sarah Girdwood, were heartily embraced by Muskoka’s brew-pub culture. The band made the LCBO’s craft-brew playlist and became cherished regulars at their hometown Sawdust City Saloon & Brewery. The group appeared on the first episode of Netflix’s Restaurants on the Edge as well as at Orillia’s Roots North Music Festival. They opened the main stage for Harrow Fair and Jim Cuddy at Muskoka Music Festival in 2017, closed the festival with a Sawdust City Saloon performance in 2018 and opened the weekend event in 2019. 
Smith is set to release a solo album titled Downer, in February 2021. The album will be available through Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music and all major digital music providers. Bet Smith & The Currie Brothers continue to collaborate on stage and in the studio.

Bet Smith

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