WILL
SMITH, Songwriter/Autoharp player
credits
My
first experience in the music "business" was some years ago as manager
of a coffeehouse in Charlottesville, Virginia called The
Prism . Among the acts I booked were Dr. Ralph Stanley,
Bill Staines (Red House Records), the late blues master John
Jackson (Arhoolie), autoharper Bryan
Bowers (Flying Fish), and a young folkie, who was well respected in
Washington, DC circles but unknown nationally, named Emmylou Harris.
Once
they passed liquor-by-the-drink, I got jobs playing in the Charlottesville
bars (and pretty much anywhere) as well as working as a solo in college
coffeehouses across 30 states. The NACA had selected me to showcase
for their national convention of college booking agents in San Antonio,
and my phone company got rich as I tried to follow up on it. Then,
at the Walnut Valley Festival in Kansas, I placed second in the International
(there's an Englishman and a guy from Japan who enter sometimes) Autoharp
Championships.
One
of my regular gigs back in town was at a club called Miller's.
It was started by a friend of mine so I got to be the first to play there.
This went on for a few years until I visited Nashville on the way back
from the Kerrville Folk Festival and decided there wasn't enough happening
for me songwriter-wise in Charlottesville, so I headed for the bright lights
of Music City. That same year Dave Matthews went to work as a bartender
at Miller's.
Nashville
is the worst place in the world to move to if you want to get paid as a
performing club musician but the best place if you want to hang out with
other songwriters and be humbled/depressed/inspired. For several
years I played instrumental music Tuesday nights at a vegetarian restaurant
called The Slice of Life. Victor
Wooten played Thursdays. I wondered why anyone would go see a
guy sitting by himself playing bass. Until I heard him. In
fact, a lot of recording artists, writers, and session musicians would
come in there because it was about the only place on Music Row you could
get something to eat at night.
One
afternoon Mark J. Miller from Jack’s
Tracks called to ask if I’d be interested in playing a master session
for a record Allen Reynolds was producing on Randy VanWarmer. I responded,
“Who do I gotta kill?” Of course I didn't know it then, but a few
days earlier Garth Brooks had come to their door, cowboy hat in hand, to
ask for a shot at the big time, and country music was about to take off
on the upside of the bell curve.
Little
by little I got to do some studio work, groused about how lousy the industry
was with all the other wannabes, held down a few bar stools, got to be
buddies with some guys whose stuff still has me in awe. I started
working with Shawn Camp,
an incredible talent who had just hit town from Arkansas. Pat Higdon, now
head of Universal Music Publishing, and Karen Conrad, who went on to head BMG Music
Publishing, signed songs of mine. They were both starting out running
small companies of their own and apparently were pretty desperate.
In 1997, I got to play on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, prompting Whispering
Bill Anderson to bellow "Who is that guy with the autoharp?"
Nobody
asked me to come here, but nobody can make me go home either.
Today
I am President-For-Life of Will Smith Music (no, not that one – although
if BMI sends me one of his royalty checks by mistake, they can try to reach
me at my new residence in the Cayman Islands). Until then, I am still
a struggling songwriter and autoharper-for-hire here in the Guitar
Town.
Will (at right) with Bryan Bowers
at Mt View AR June 2002
You
can hear a little of my autoharp backing up Pam Tillis and Dolly Parton
on a song called "Violet and Rose" in the middle of these interviews (you
can use RealPlayer instructions to skip ahead if you're in a hurry):
Fresh
Air (Review) Once the RealPlayer file starts, you can skip straight to the beginning of the song by going >> Play>Seek to>0:02:58
All
Things Considered (Tillis Interview) Once the RealPlayer file starts, you can skip straight to the beginning of the song by going >> Play>Seek to>0:07:52
Since 2004, I have been the web guy for several e-commerce sites, including Cumberland Records, as well as having built
(along with Charlie Rich, Jr.) and maintained a site for Jack Clement, a true living legend of the music business, who
produced and/or wrote the songs for Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt, Louis Armstrong, and U2 among others over an incredible 50+ year career.
©
2008 Will Smith Music (ASCAP)
credits
