The Kitchen Musician ~ March 2025
Hello Friends,
This month, I disclose the big secret for my folksinging success (ha!). “Three Chords and a Capo” is a fun song that I co-wrote with my talented friend Mark Stepakoff. Join me in the kitchen to see the very first public performance!
Index
NEWS:
THIS MONTH’S MUSIC: “Three Chords and a Capo”
UPCOMING SHOWS
FEATURED NON-PROFIT: Support Ukraine
Tom at the Parish Center for the Arts, February 2025
Photo by Dan Tappan
News:
With so much uncertainty ahead for the people of Ukraine (especially the children), I have been gratified by the positive response to the Ukrainian translation of my song “I’ll Show You the Way”. Olena Oksenych calls her translation “Kolysanka (Lullaby)” and you can view Olena and her friends perform it in Kyiv at this link.
My performance calendar is very open later this summer and fall, so contact me if you would like a New England show in your living room, church basement, library, coffee house or festival. I also enjoy doing virtual concerts.
I hope to see some friends at one of these shows coming up in the next month.
March 14, Friday: South Shore Folk Music Club, Duxbury, MA. I return to this long-running folk club to feature at their open mic. Open mic signup 6:30 pm. Show starts at 7:00 pm.
April 5, Saturday: Francestown Academy Coffeehouse at the Francestown Town Hall, NH. I will do the feature set at this folksy showcase. Refreshments available. Music starts at 7:00 pm.
All show details can be found at upcoming shows.
This Month’s Music: “Three Chords and a Capo”
℗© 2025 Tom Smith (ASCAP) and Mark Stepakoff (BMI)
I often describe myself as an old-school folksinger. I tend to align with the “regular folk” – the self-taught pickers who write using common language with melodies that ordinary voices can sing. I am inspired by great songs from some of my folk heroes like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and the unknown thousands who’s songs still ring in the hearts and voices of the living. The folk cliché describes their songs as “three chords and the truth”; simple, unpretentious and sometimes hard-hitting – telling it like it is or speaking truth to power.
In the past couple of months, I have had some higher profile shows which required promotional posters. I really dislike the promotion part of my music hobby (as it is described by the IRS when they dispute my tax return showing more than three consecutive years of negative business income). Most promotion experts advise that concert posters should have a very short phrase to communicate to folks who have never heard me perform. I very briefly considered “Tom Smith – three chords and the truth”. That of course was quickly abandoned. Not only is it so cliché as to be laughable, but also pretentious. A self-critical voice in my head told me it should be “three chords and a capo,” and I found myself chuckling about that for days.
For those of you who may not know, a capo is a clamp device that a player can fasten across the strings of a fretted musical instrument to raise the tuning by a chosen amount. They come in many different styles. It is an easy way to change the key without having to transcribe. My well-trained guitar player friends sometimes call it a “cheater.” I confess, I do admire someone who can play in any key without using a capo.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that “three chords and a capo” would be a fun songwriting prompt. I wrote what I thought was a reasonable song – both humorous and also paying tribute to the old folkies who inspire me. In that version I did a live key change by moving the capo between verses. It added a touch of self-deprecating humor that I liked, but something was missing. So I emailed a quick demo to my talented songwriting friend Mark Stepakoff and asked for his comments. Mark liked the song but really loved the key change, so he suggested that I play up the capo angle more. We decided that this song was ripe for our collaboration, and after several emails we ended up with perhaps the only song ever played in the keys of C, D, E flat, E, and F – six key changes in a single performance. The video above was the first time I sang this song live, appropriately debuted at the open mic Mark hosts at Natick Center for the Arts.
Take care my friends. Do whatever it takes to stay healthy. Sometimes a little humor can help keep the train on track.
Sing on!
Tom
(If so inclined, I invite you to leave a comment by scrolling to the end of this page.)
Featured Non-profit: Support Ukraine
My suggested non-profit today is a response to the apparent abandonment of Ukraine by the Trump administration, in favor of the Russian aggressor. For those who would like to support Ukraine, it can be confusing to filter the many bogus options popping up on the Internet. Here is a vetted list from a source I trust, American historian Timothy Snyder.
From Timothy Snyder on Substack: “If you are thinking today about how to help Ukrainians, here are some possibilities: Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO that supports soldiers on the battlefield and veterans; United 24, the Ukrainian state platform for donations, with many excellent projects); RAZOM, an American NGO, tax-deductible for US citizens, which cooperates with Ukrainian NGOS to support civilians; and BlueCheck Ukraine, which aims for efficient cooperation with Ukrainian groups and is also tax-deductible.“
Please join me in supporting Ukraine.
Tom Smith
March 2, 2025Three Chords and a Capo
© 2025 Tom Smith (ASCAP) and Mark Stepakoff (BMI)
[KEY OF C, NO CAPO]
INTRO:
I’m an old folksinger
I prob’ly know a million songs
Most have only three chords
So it’s not hard to sing along
The chords I mainly play are C, F and G
But here’s how I show my versatility…
CHORUS 1:
With three chords and a capo
I can play in any key
Take this song I’m singing now
That’s currently in C
I place the capo here [CAPO ON FRET 2]
Voila now I’m in D
Yes three chords and a capo are all I need
VERSE:
If you know your music theory
Then you’ll probably recall
That regardless of the genre
There are still 12 notes in all
So say I feel like playing in the key of E flat
I just move the capo here [CAPO FRET 3], now how ‘bout that?
CHORUS 2:
With three chords and a capo
I can play in any key
If I move it up another fret [CAPO FRET 4]
Presto change O, I’m in E!
The one who invented this device deserves a prize indeed
Cause three chords and a capo are all I need
CHORUS 3:
Yes three chords and a capo
Everybody sing along!
I know that some of you might say
This key for you is wrong
So let me change it once again, [CAPO FRET 5] ooh that’s too high for me
But with a capo I can always change the [CAPO FRET 3] key
OUTRO:
So if you wanna play like I do
Here’s the way you can succeed
Three chords and a capo are all you need
Three chords and a capo yes indeed
Tag Vennard
March 3, 2025Delightful Tom! But I can’t sing along to that!
Tom Smith
March 3, 2025Ha! If only there was a capo for the vocal chords. 🙂
Amy Conley
March 3, 2025I love all your songs, Tom! i was waiting for you to raise the capo even higher and drop an octave!
Thank you for supporting Ukraine!
Tom Smith
March 3, 2025Ha! That would be a good challenge. Will give it a try. 🙂
Stuart Stotts
March 3, 2025Great song. ! and so true. and encouraging to players everywhere.
Tom Smith
March 3, 2025Thank you Stuart. Three cheers for the Capo Crowd!
Deb
March 4, 2025LOVE it! So clever! Amazed that you could end up on the right note to shift to the next key. I’m sure it will be one of your requested songs.
Tom Smith
March 4, 2025This was a lot harder to perform than I anticipated. Still needs some smoothing out. 🙂
Janice Swenson
March 4, 2025This was very clever and well done, as usual! I am a big fan!!!
Tom Smith
March 4, 2025Thank you Janice! Hugs to you and the hubby!