10 Artists to Watch 2006

>> Listen: Hear tunes from Alice Smith and other Artists to Watch.

Growing up, Alice Smith divided her time between Washington, D.C., and her grandmother's farm in rural Georgia, soaking up her family's eclectic musical tastes. "My mother's got eight brothers and sisters, and we're a very close family," she says. "Everybody had their own music. My uncle played me Bob Marley. I have an aunt who loved Sade. Another uncle was big on James Brown - well, they were all big on James Brown. I was listening to Bon Jovi, Wham! and New Edition, and my mother had me playing the piano, so I was listening to Tchaikovsky and Chopin - basically it was just everything." The Tchaikovsky and Chopin are hard to hear, but otherwise those influences - plus country, Broadway and gospel - come through on her stellar, soulful debut, For Lovers, Dreamers, and Me.

SOUND Smith could easily be lumped in with expressive chanteuses like Norah Jones and Alicia Keys, but she has a broader palette than either. On the soulful torch song "Dream," which Smith wrote, she conveys a sophisticated allure that would seem well beyond her twenty-seven years. Rock-cabaret tunes like "Gary Song" and "New Religion" show off Smith's four-octave range, and her reggae-loving uncle gets props on the dub-influenced "Do I." In concert, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, she effortlessly fills the room with her booming alto, channeling Nina Simone one minute, Mick Jagger the next.

SHOP AROUND For Lovers, released on indie label BBE, has earned Smith attention from major labels eager to cash in on her next album, but she says the process is frustrating. "A lot of people at these labels treat audiences like they're stupid," she says. "Like, 'You should focus your style or people won't get it.' I don't think that's true. Who only listens to country music? I mean, I'm sure there are people out there, but not the normal ones." EVAN SERPICK

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