I'm pretty sure that almost every time I've seen Jan Smith play live, she makes me cry. In a cathartic, "there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in" sort of way. She is just so real and raw that the notes creep in to my heart and force it open. The poetry reminds me to breathe deep. Her voice floats, soars, hovers, cracks, and tumbles over words in ways I don't always expect, but have me hanging on to every syllable.