Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Ernie Smith - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

BACK IN the 1970s when Rasta anthems ruled the airwaves, Ernie Smith's easy-listening songs like Duppy Gunman and Pitter Patter were a welcome change for conservatives.

Now 62 years old, Smith is finding it difficult convincing disc jockeys that his current work is as good as the classics he churned out 30-odd years ago.

Country Mile, his new album, is scheduled to be released in October. Co-produced by Smith and Mikey Bennett, it will be released by VP Records.

Last week, Smith told The Gleaner that while he never tires of doing the old songs, he stressed the importance of getting airplay for his latest productions.

"I did an album in 1997 which had new songs and some of the hits from the '70s and they (disc jockeys) played mostly the hits from the '70s," he said. "I'm not losing any sleep over it (lack of airplay) but I'd like them to play something new."

Favourable airplay

That's The Kinda People We Are, a duet with singer Pluto Shervington, is Country Mile's lead single. Released early this year, it got favourable airplay which Smith hopes will set the tone for the rest of the album.

Ironically, Country Mile's second single, Give Her a Lion, features a chant by popular disc jockey Ron Muschette of IRIE FM. It, too, has enjoyed steady rotation.

Smith is not the only 'vintage' artiste who has suffered from inadequate airplay. Leroy Sibbles, former lead singer of the Heptones and rock steady king Alton Ellis have complained that their new productions are consistently ignored by disc jockeys.

Performers

Other performers from the 1960s, notably Marcia Griffiths, have had no such problem. She made the charts regularly during the 1990s when she recorded for producer Donovan Germain's Penthouse Records, a camp that had rising deejay Buju Banton and resurgent singer Beres Hammond.

Smith appealed to all ages during the 1970s, a period of political and social turbulence that inspired some of the decade's biggest names like Bob Marley and Burning Spear, to write timeless songs.

The Kingston-born, St Ann-reared Smith, first made the local charts in 1967 with the ballad Tears On My Pillow. But it was the next decade that he racked up the hits for Federal Records, which included Life Is Just For Living, Key Card, Hail The Man and the controversial The Power and The Glory.

Message songs

Smith said he never thought of following in the steps of Marley and company and record message songs.

"That wasn't me. I was young, I was having fun!" he said, laughing.

Interestingly, it was one of his serious songs that curtailed Ernie Smith's career.

The Power and The Glory, recorded in 1977, was considered by some as a jab at the socialist policies of former Prime Minister Michael Manley. Following threats on his life, Smith and his family moved to Florida where he lived, initially, for three years. In 1981, he returned to the Sunshine State where he resided for another nine years.

Since returning to Jamaica in the early 1990s, Smith has fitted, like Sibbles and Ellis, into the thriving oldies scene. With Country Mile, he is hoping to emulate Marcia Griffiths and make a return to the charts.

Over 40 with a bullet

Marcia Griffiths, who recorded her first hit songs during the 1960s at Studio One, had a number of hits in the 1990s. These included a cover of Bob Andy's Fire Burning, Live On and I Shall Sing, all for producer Donovan Germain.

George Nooks, a member of producer Joe Gibbs' hit-rich studio in the 1970s, returned to the charts in a big way in 2001 with his cover of Al Green's God is Standing By.

Like Marcia Griffiths, Ken Boothe had a golden run with producer Clement Dodd at Studio One in the 1960s. After years off the charts, he had a comeback in the late 1980s with the Della Reese original, Don't You Know.

Marcia Griffiths - File