Given his voice has echoed from area stages and pubs for more than 20 years, it’s hard to believe Joe Smothers has never issued an album of original music.

With the now-defunct Skannyardle, Smothers and his bandmates were never the traditional cover band. They brought something of themselves to familiar hits from the past. They created new arrangements, or wove one song into another, or seamlessly mixed and matched musical genres, until it seemed Skannyardle had created several new songs from old-time favorites.

In his solo performances, or the many gigs he’s performed with musician Tim Teasley, Smothers has brought a similar new ear to old songs while performing some of the tunes he’s penned and composed.

At last, he’s recorded and produced 10 of his

 original songs in “These Things I Know …” The album is well worth the wait. Smothers translates the same spirit which has made him a mainstay for nearly 25 years on Valdosta’s live music scene into this recording.

Suggest to Smothers that this album, the music, the lyrics, the guitar and his voice are something akin to the eternal youth of an old soul, he laughs, unable to curb the sense of humor that often buoys his performances on stage. “You mean,” he says, “it’s something like a vampire …”

Not at all.

Instead, “These Things I Know …” combines folk, rock, hill music, storytelling and something that might be described as some bluegrass Santana.

As for recording, it’s not like Smothers hasn’t recorded. Years ago, Smothers toured, played and worked with the legendary Doc Watson and son Merle Watson, as well as singing and touring on his own.

Smothers can recall many a fascinating tale from those years: Unsuccessfully trying to talk Doc into reaching a new audience by appearing on a then-relatively new show called “Saturday Night Live” — Doc refused because he worried he’d lose his core audience — you gotta dance with the one that brought ya. Smothers seeking work at the same time as then fellow struggling musician Jimmy Buffett.

He came off the road to marry his wife, Marghy, and start a family. Though not on this CD, Smothers wrote a song illustrating his and Marghy’s meeting, told from the viewpoint of a rogue sailor meeting the woman who could change his life.

They married. Smothers took a job selling caskets. In October 1989, the Smothers family moved to Valdosta, but he never surrendered his music. Just like his song’s sailor Captain Baldwin loved the sea life, Joe Smothers loved the music life “though hard and rough she be.”

A listener can fathom these sea changes within Smothers’ music, a songwriter and voice that know triumph and loss, joy and pain. He writes from experience and imagination, long nights eased with a sense of humor.

“Doc & Merle” opens this album with the contrasting qualities of rollicking backwoods music but the theme of a funeral dirge. Like the North Carolina hills where Smothers came of age, the song blends ups and downs into its lyrical landscape.

The true heartbreak of Doc Watson is that his beloved son, Merle, died in a tractor accident in 1985. Merle’s buried in the backyard of the Watsons’ Carolina homestead. Merle joined his father on stage from an early age. They toured the country together … Imagine the person you love most intricately entwined with the thing you love most and then that person’s gone.

In “Doc & Merle,” Smothers imagines this tragic scenario and more. He envisions a time when father and son will play together again in heaven.

Audiences should recognize some of this CD’s songs from Smothers’ live performances. He’s played “Bobby,” a story about a well-meaning young man lost to drugs and prison, since he first arrived in Valdosta. “Three Buglers” is a crowd favorite, with Smothers telling the legendary story of “Taps” sandwiched into an old man telling the heartbreaking tale to his grandson.

So, what prompted Smothers to record an album now?

He’s long considered it but musician friend Shaun Hopper urged Smothers to pursue it. Through Hopper, Smothers met Matt Glisson. Smothers describes Glisson as a genius, a musician/producer who not only hears music but can see the colors of music. A musician who can play almost any instrument, who can hear untapped possibilities in another musician’s songs. Glisson is working on a recording of his own music but served as producer on Smothers’ CD.

Glisson moved into the Smothers household. Together, they spent several weeks developing the rich textures of “These Things I Know …” The collaboration proved so productive that Glisson is already producing a second album of Smothers’ original songs.

While “These Things I Know …” is a Joe Smothers album, he is joined by Tim Teasley, Justin Moore, son Justin Smothers, and even wife Marghy on one track each.

Long-time Smothers’ fans will not be surprised by the quality of this CD and the talent behind the songs. After all, these things we know …

Joe Smothers’ “These Things I Know …” is available through amazon.com, iTunes, Rutland Music, as well as from Smothers during his local shows. He plays Saturday night, Southern Landing on North Valdosta Road.

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