Biography

I enjoy looking into Billy’s eyes, seeing the fire he has in his heart that comes out in his music. Great stuff on this cd. ~ Tom T. Hall

You know you can’t write songs with just anybody. It takes a special person with whom you can bare your soul Billy is one of that rare breed. Not only do we admire his creativity, we enjoy his picking and singing, too and we treasure his friendship. ~ Dixie Hall

“One of Nashville’s best-kept secrets, Billy Smith is a fine guitarist and singer, but his greatest strength reveals itself in the string of classically simple but elegant bluegrass and acoustic country songs he’s written over the past two decades.” Jon Weisberger, Nashville Scene

“Billy . . . is a walking, talking bluegrass poet who breathes song ideas in and out like the rest of us breathe air. “ Nancy Cardwell, Bluegrass Now

Singer/guitarist Billy Smith carries the repertoire of most of the first generation bluegrass music pioneers around in his head and heart—the natural result of growing up onstage and performing with artists like the Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt and Jimmy Martin. Billy’s mother, Hazel Smith is a well-known country music journalist and television cooking show host and brother Terry Smith plays bass for The Grascals, IBMA’s reigning Entertainers of the Year, but Billy himself is most known for his soulful, impassioned live performances, as well as being an award-winning songwriter.

Smith’s compositions have been recorded by Bill Monroe, The Del McCoury Band, Dan Tyminski, The Osborne Brothers, The Lonesome River Band, IIIrd Tyme Out and The Lewis Family, among others—more than 80 cuts so far. The hit song, “Hobo Blues,” recorded by The Lonesome River Band on their Carrying the Tradition album (named Bluegrass Album of the Year in 2001), was Smith’s first major cut.

Billy grew up near Reidsville, North Carolina, playing music with his dad, Pat Smith, a popular old-time fiddler. When he sings Billy brings to mind genre-defining, lonesome-edged vocalists like Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and Del McCoury—with a twist uniquely his own. Smith has a natural ability to connect with an audience and a free-wheeling sense of humor that translates well at different venues—everywhere from large concert halls and social events to clubs, musical programs at a local shelter for the homeless and special music at his church, where he leads the music when he’s not on tour.

Although Smith’s songs are deceptively simply, rarely utilizing more than two or three chords, they shoot straight from the heart and pack a powerful emotional punch. They often sound very old. “Music is more fun when it’s simple,” Smith believes. “More people can play a song when it’s simple, of course, but at the same time it can be harder to write. I just think I’m blessed right now with the energy to do it.”

Billy's song cuts as of January 2008

Around This Fire - Williams & Clark Expedition, A Step Away - Lonesome River Band / Lewis Family, Backsliding Blues - Del McCoury, Beautiful Home - Mark Newton, Blue Moonshine - Mark Newton, Can’t Stay Here Anymore - IIIrd Tyme Out, Carry Me Across The Mountain - Dan Tyminski / John Pennel, Child Again - The Osborne Brothers, Cry Out - Bluegrass Cardinals, Crazy Heart - James King / Lonesome River Band / Rosine, Dead Dog - Osborne Brothers, Deeper Shade of Blue - Del McCoury, Echo Mountain - James King / Cedar Hill, Five Flat Rocks - Del McCoury, Forgot To Think Of You - Ginger Boatwright, Get Right Or Get Left - Seldom Scene, Give The Devil An Inch - Lonesome River Band / The Carters / The Batten Family, Giving My Soul Back To Him - IIIrd Tyme Out / Curtis McPeake, Grandpa’s Mandolin - IIIrd Tyme Out, Hard On My Heart - Del McCoury, He’ll Take You In - Bill Monroe / IIIrd Tyme Out / Bluegrass Cardinals, His Child On Earth - Bluegrass Cardinals, Hobo Blues - Lonesome River Band, Hurtin’, Hauntin’ Memory - Ronnie & Robbie McCoury, I’ll Carry My Cross - Larry Stephenson, In My Dreams - Doyle Lawson, I Know Rain - Michelle Nixon, Lonely Side Of Love - Del McCoury, Love Is A Danger - Osborne Brothers Love’s Come Over Me - Lonesome River Band, Lost And Lonesome For You - Lonesome River Band / Doug Dillard, Never Looking Back - Irene Kelly / Mark Newton, New Pair Of Glasses - 1946 / Stacy & Joe, Not Livin’ Life - Bo Isaacs, Old Friend Of Mine - Osborne Brothers, On The Lonesome Wind - Del McCoury, Righteous Prayer - Bluegrass Cardinals / Gloria Bell, Rock –n- Roll - Northwest Territory, Roy Lee - James King / Mark Newton, Shine Your Light - Ginger Boatwright, Smoke On The Mountain - Mark Barnett, Snow Angel - IIIrd Tyme Out, Southbound Train - Mickey Harris, Stumblin’ In My Father’s Footsteps - James King, Sunday Afternoon - Guy Clark, Sweet Memory - Stoney Lonesome, Take It To The Valley - Cedar Hill, Tears On My Tracks - Lonesome River Band / Cedar Hill, The Older He Gets - Osborne Brothers, (There’ll always be a) Rocking Chair - David Parmley & Continental Divide / Pete Warnick, They Called It A Church - Longview / IIIrd Tyme Out / Rock County, Thunderbird - Irene Kelly, Whipporwill - Cedar Hill, Will You Think Of Me - Dale Ann Bradley, You Are Everything - Lonesome River Band, You’re Still With Us, Ain’t You, Lord - Joe Isaacs