There is genuine restraint required to feel deeply troubled by the state of the world and still choose measured reflection over louder, more combative statement, and this is not ok captures Matt Smith exercising exactly that restraint across his twentieth studio album. After more than four decades building a career as performer, songwriter, producer, and educator, Smith approached this considerable project with real clarity regarding what he wanted it to accomplish, expressing genuine concern for the world without contributing further toward whatever fracture and polarization already defines so much contemporary public conversation.
World Is a Wheel opens the album with genuinely cyclical imagery, suggesting patterns of repetition and continuation appropriate for an artist examining considerable contemporary difficulty through the lens of someone who has already witnessed considerable historical cycles across his own extensive career. That opening choice establishes real thematic groundwork, positioning the album’s broader examination of division and difficulty within something considerably larger than any single specific contemporary moment alone. Cry for America follows with genuinely direct, emotionally exposed framing, naming national grief and concern without retreating into vague abstraction, suggesting Smith commits toward genuine specificity even while avoiding partisan combativeness throughout the track’s actual content.
Orphans introduces genuinely vulnerable imagery regarding abandonment and genuine need for care, extending the album’s apparent concern toward those most affected by considerable societal fracture and difficulty. Level Ground pushes toward something considerably more hopeful and aspirational, suggesting genuine equality and shared human dignity functioning as central thematic concern, a fitting counterpoint against the more difficult territory established through the preceding tracks. That sequencing, moving from cyclical repetition through genuine grief and vulnerability before arriving at aspirational common ground, gives the album real emotional architecture extending across its considerable nine-track journey.
I’ll Never Fall in Love Again shifts toward more personal, romantic territory, suggesting Smith’s broader examination of contemporary difficulty extends into genuinely intimate emotional space alongside its more explicitly social and political concerns. A Life in Love continues that personal thread, positioned specifically among the album’s highlighted standout tracks, likely offering genuine reflection regarding sustained romantic partnership and accumulated shared history across considerable time.
Outside My Fence introduces genuinely evocative imagery regarding boundary and separation, perhaps examining the particular tension between protecting one’s own immediate circle and genuine engagement with broader community and world beyond that established boundary. Bad Man carries genuinely direct, almost confrontational framing, suggesting examination of moral complexity or genuine reckoning with difficult behavior, extending the album’s willingness toward sitting inside considerable discomfort rather than offering only comfortable, easy resolution throughout its runtime.
From the Ashes closes the album with genuinely restorative, phoenix-like imagery, an appropriate concluding statement for a project explicitly concerned with hope, resilience, and genuine possibility for renewal following considerable difficulty. That closing choice gives this is not ok genuine structural completion, moving from initial cyclical observation through genuine grief and vulnerability, aspirational common ground, personal reflection, moral complexity, and finally arriving at considered restoration by the album’s actual conclusion.
What gives this project particular weight is understanding Smith’s explicit intention regarding avoiding contribution toward further societal division despite genuinely caring about the difficult circumstances motivating the album’s actual creation. He has been direct that he needed to express what he was genuinely feeling, but specifically not in a manner that added toward existing fracture, a considered artistic philosophy requiring real discipline to actually execute successfully across nine complete tracks addressing genuinely difficult, sometimes politically charged contemporary subject matter.
That approach reflects considerable artistic maturity earned through Smith’s extensive forty-five year career, someone who has apparently learned throughout considerable decades of professional music making that genuine impact doesn’t necessarily require combative or divisive framing to actually reach listeners meaningfully. Recorded across both Austin and New York, the album blends roots music, folk, blues, soul, rock, and Americana into what has been described as genuinely emotionally rich listening experience, drawing from considerable stylistic range Smith has developed across his extensive career.
Smith’s considerable collaborative history throughout his career includes performing alongside, opening for, or recording with artists spanning B.B. King, Sheryl Crow, Gregg Allman, Los Lobos, Buddy Guy, and Portishead, among considerable others. That extensive professional network gave him access toward an accomplished group of musicians and vocalists specifically for this project, including Julie Slim, Alex Ruiz, Joe Morales, Guy Forsythe, and considerable additional contributors from both Austin and New York’s respective music communities. That collaborative depth likely explains the album’s described balance between intimate storytelling and expressive musicianship, benefiting from considerable accumulated professional relationship and trust built across Smith’s extensive career.
There is something worth noting in how directly Smith’s stated mission connects toward his broader work beyond pure recording artistry specifically, including his role as co-founder of 6 String Ranch, the studio and educational facility where he continues mentoring other artists alongside his own continued creative output. That educational dimension suggests genuine commitment toward nurturing broader musical community rather than pursuing purely individual artistic achievement, positioning this is not ok as extension of considerably broader values Smith has apparently cultivated throughout his extensive career spanning performance, production, education, and mentorship simultaneously.
The album’s already accumulated critical praise, with reviewers specifically highlighting Smith’s expressive vocals, poetic songwriting, and his particular ability toward pairing genuinely timely subject matter with music that remains sincere, soulful, and built for genuine longevity, speaks toward real success achieving his stated artistic goals. That combination, addressing genuinely urgent contemporary concern while still crafting something with real staying power beyond immediate topical relevance, reflects considerable songwriting sophistication earned through decades of sustained professional practice.
What ultimately distinguishes this is not ok within considerable contemporary music addressing societal division is its explicit refusal toward choosing sides in favor of choosing shared humanity instead. Smith’s stated care for the world and its people, translated specifically into music encouraging genuine reflection rather than further combative division, positions the album as considered invitation rather than argument, offering listeners space toward pause and reconsider rather than simply reinforcing whatever positions they already held before pressing play.
By combining four decades of accumulated musical wisdom alongside genuine, considered restraint regarding how to address contemporary division without contributing further toward it, Matt Smith has built this is not ok into a twentieth studio album that succeeds specifically through its careful balance between honest concern and genuine hope. This collection demonstrates real artistic maturity, using considerable stylistic range and collaborative depth toward creating something that functions as genuine invitation toward compassion and shared understanding, proving that after more than forty-five years in music, Smith remains genuinely committed toward using his considerable platform specifically to heal rather than further divide whatever audience chooses to actually sit with these nine carefully considered songs.
