If Stuffy Shmitt was an A-list celebrity, he certainly would be trending after describing this new song “The Little Man in The Boat.” But this lifelong rocker has been true to the underground for decades and that ain’t going to change even if he swings his brand of versatile bold rock toward the subject of the female anatomy.
“Ok, so let’s get this out of the way. “The Little Man in the Boat” means clitoris. It’s right there in the Urban Dictionary,” says Shmitt. “I’ve been familiar with the term for a long time, but not everyone knows it, which makes the song fun to play live—half the audience whispers and giggles and the other half looks lost and pssts someone who seems like they know the deal.”
In the chaotic shadow of the pandemic, after a tornado leveled his East Nashville, Tennessee, neighborhood and a bomb took out two downtown Nashville city blocks, Stuffy Shmitt released his last album, ironically titled Stuff Happens (2020). While that album was admittedly about purging past demons, once the world opened up again, Stuffy felt remarkably unstuck. “It was like we were emerging from a zombie apocalypse,” he says. “I had this incredible rush of freedom. C’mon, let’s go! Let’s color outside the lines. Let’s run and fly and lift this shit up and feel crazy good alive. I felt like everyone needed to remember how to have fun. Remember fun? I needed fun.”
In that flash of inspiration, the eclectic, textured grooves of Stuffy’s new album, Cherry, was born, featuring some of the finest players in the Nashville underground, who also happen to be some of his closest friends. “It was like somebody let the boys out,” Stuffy says. “We made our escape, and then cranked it up. Cherry is the sound of me and my gang being free and having a blast—not following any rules, trusting each other and being in the moment with the songs.”
Glide is premiering the catchy “The Little Man in the Boat,” which might very well be the biggest hook he’s ever composed. While Harry Nilsson’s “Lime in the Coconut,” is shining its facade through the calypso rhythms here, once you get into the swinging facade, Shmitt gives it a throwback rock feel that’s his versatile own. Like Jesse Malin or Willie Nile, Shmitt is a straight shooter who continues to unravel and teach the truth and consequences or being a rock and roll life.
One Response
Stuffy is crazy and I love him. Great song.